Bad ideas
by selana1505
Summary: This was supposed to be a Tony/Loki PWP, enemies with benefits or something like that - it got out of hand and is developing into a longer story. Tony and Loki clash, happen to have sex - and can't forget about each other. Where do they go from here? After all they both have stupid ideas sometimes. ***All done for now, but there will be a sequel
1. Tony's bad idea

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Avengers or any of the characters, I just borrow them for some fun

**Notes**: Thanks to my betas Lou and faeleverte, please don't blame any remaining mistakes on them, they are all mine.

This story takes place about two years after the events in the Avengers movie, Loki has found his way back to Earth and has crossed paths with the Avengers frequently.

Shit! Tony swore silently while he was dragged along to who knew where by Loki's magic. He really shouldn't have charged Loki the moment he was about to teleport away; they'd encountered him often enough that it should have been obvious what was about to happen. But no, he hadn't stopped to think, had just charged forward and tried to stop Loki. Now he was feeling as if he was being stretched and pressed together, falling apart and being rebuilt, all at the same time and he couldn't do anything but hold on to Loki's shoulders. Who knew what would happen if he let go, he might drop back to where they had vanished from, Loki's magic might keep dragging him along or he might end up stuck in this - nothingness, void, magic, whatever - they were travelling through. And whatever it was, Tony was certain he didn't want to be trapped here, it was the least pleasant place he'd ever been in. And yes, that included Afghanistan. There wasn't anything threatening about it, it just felt odd, wrong. Tony shuddered inside the suit.

It felt like an eternity - or was it just seconds? - then Tony dropped none too gently to the ground, hard enough to feel the impact even in the suit, and Loki stepped away from him. Tony tried to get up, but the suit seemed to have shut down and locked up, so he was trapped for the moment. He fought down the panic that threatened to rise when he realized that he was stuck here, helpless, with an enemy.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, that's what he was with his impulsive actions. Why couldn't he think first? Wasn't as if his brain wasn't up to the job, he was a genius after all. Oh, wait, he had thought it was a bad idea, but done it anyway, stupid, reckless idiot that he was sometimes.

While he was scolding himself, Tony tried to look around as much as possible with the suit powered down and the limited movement he had. Loki was standing next to him and staring down with a curious expression. Then he crouched down and moved his hands to Tony's helmet, felt around it. Fuck, Tony held his breath, there wasn't anything he could do if Loki decided to kill him now.

"Your suit will not work in here." Loki told him when he lifted the face plate away after some fumbling to find the opening mechanism. He was surprisingly careful; he didn't even seem to damage anything as far as Tony could tell. What the hell was going on here?

Loki raised an eyebrow, but when Tony didn't speak he turned around with a shrug. "I'm going to get more comfortable, if you have a way to get out of the suit let me know. Or you can just stay on the floor of my living room until I have decided what to do with you. It is entirely up to you." With that he vanished through a doorway, out of Tony's rather limited field of vision.

Tony's thoughts raced. Out of the suit? Make himself even more vulnerable to Loki? At least he'd be able to move then and would not trapped in his own armour - which wouldn't do him much good against Loki's magic anyway. Wait, Loki's living room? Loki had teleported them to his apartment? He HAD an apartment? Still lost in thought he almost missed when Loki came back through the door, now clad in a pair of well worn looking black jeans and a dark green long-sleeve. He really seemed to like those colours. His bare feet made almost no noise when he walked back to Tony.

"So, how do I get you out of this? Or have you decided to stay where you are?" Loki tilted his head and studied the suit. Tony just stared up at him. "Anything wrong? It really isn't like you to be that quiet. If I have to put up with you at my apartment, you could at least be entertaining." Loki smirked.

Somehow that smirk got to Tony, and he grinned back. "I thought the guests should be entertained and, since this is your place, I'm the guest here."

Loki gave an amused chuckle at that. "Then tell me how to get you out of this thing." He gestured at the suit. "It will be much easier to show you my hospitality when I do not have to step around or over you every time I want to cross my living room." His eyes sparkled with amusement.

Tony shrugged, which was of course entirely lost on Loki since he was still stuck inside the suit. What did he have to lose? So he began to talk Loki through removing his suit, beginning with his right arm. As soon as his arm was free, he helped to remove part after part until they had disassembled the suit far enough for him to get up and out of it. The moment he was on his feet and looked around, Loki waved his hand and the windows darkened, electrical lights turned on.

"I am sorry, but I will not give away the location of this place to you; I would hate to move again after I have just put up all my protections here." Loki grinned. "And they seem to work perfectly, judging from the state your suit is in."

Tony swore under his breath, but he had to admit that whatever Loki had done to shut the suit down, it was effective. And since the suit was down, he couldn't even run any scans of the area or contact the rest of the team. Well, at least the arc reactor wasn't affected, so he wasn't in any immediate danger of dying. At least he assumed he wasn't. Why would Loki have bothered to get him out of the suit if he wanted to kill him anyway? And there was no need to hide the location of his apartment if he didn't intend to let Tony out of here alive.

"So, I assume you're not going to kill me - not that I'm complaining about that. What's the plan?" Tony looked around the living room while he turned around to face Loki. Big, comfortable looking sofas and TV to one side, open to the kitchen on the other side with a breakfast bar separating the two areas. A door - front door? - next to the kitchen, another door to the right, where Loki had vanished earlier to change. Well, should be a bedroom then.

When Tony finally looked at Loki, Loki had an amused smile on his face, one eyebrow slightly raised. "Are you quite done with taking stock of my apartment?" He turned around and walked over to the larger of the two sofas, then flopped down on it before looking back at Tony. "Plan? I initially wanted to teleport home and get some rest before making a better plan of attack. One that wouldn't get Thor and the rest of your team involved so I would actually be able acquire what I came for." He paused, then continued with a smirk when Tony just kept standing next to the pieces of his armour that were scattered on the floor. "Since you decided to tag along when I teleported back, I of course have to change it a bit. But I'm nothing if not creative."

Tony snorted at that. "It seemed like a good idea at the time, how could I know that you'd take me with you?"

"Now you know, so please do me a favour and refrain from doing so again." Loki still looked at him with that disconcerting, amused expression. "I will have to teleport you out of here later, so you can not come back with weapons blazing as you are so fond of doing. But for now, I have to rest, since dragging you and that armour of yours around depleted my energy too much to just transport you back." Another pause, a raised eyebrow. "Are you going to stand there all day long, or will you sit down already? This is going to get ridiculous. And no, you will not be able to just walk out the front door, I have made sure that it will not open for you."

Tony turned around to look at the door, tempted to try it. Loki was the God of lies after all. Then he shrugged, turned back and walked over to the two-seater sofa that stood at a right angle to the one Loki had flopped down on.

"So, you're not going to kill me, you're just going to magic me out of here as soon as your magic batteries are recharged? Not that I'm complaining about the not killing thing..." Tony's voice trailed off. He sat down on the sofa that actually was as comfortable as it looked. And why did Loki seem to be so amused by all this? Tony hated it when he couldn't read people, couldn't anticipate what to say and do to manipulate them.

"Why should I kill you? You are the most entertaining element of the Avengers, and killing you would take all the fun out of the fights." Loki looked honestly amused, but then his face turned serious. "And you should have noticed by now that I'm not a murderer. I like chaos, I do what I have to in order to achieve my goals, but I try not to take lives if I can avoid it."

Tony thought about that for a moment, and had to admit that Loki was right. During the past two years all encounters with him had ended with no or almost no casualties - and even then they had been the cause of accidents during their fights, not planned kills by Loki. The one and only exception, although it was a huge one, was their first encounter when Loki had led the Chitauri to them.

"I won't argue with you about that. But you can't really blame me, when we first met you tried to kill me by defenestration..." Tony grinned. "But you are right, apart from that one time you have been one of our least lethal opponents." Did he imagine the shudder running through Loki when he mentioned their first encounter? Probably not, but he didn't really know what it meant, didn't have enough data. Well, if nothing else he could use his forced stay here to learn about their enemy. "So, you don't have unlimited magic powers? Never really thought about that..."

"Fighting tires you, isn't that correct?" Loki interrupted him. "So does the use of magic, and complicated magic like teleportation requires that I am able to concentrate on where to go. Or would you rather end up stuck inside a wall? Or be stranded in between, in the place we had to go through? Because both are things I'd rather avoid, since they are not pleasant at all. There is no doubt that I could get myself out of both situations again, but I would have to leave you behind. And with no magic of your own, that would most likely be a death sentence. So do me a favour, be quiet and let me get some rest."

"Kind of makes sense. But what am I supposed to do while you lounge on the sofa?" Tony looked around: except for the TV there was nothing even remotely technological he might work on, his connection with Jarvis cut, no StarkTab anywhere near to play with, not even real books to read. "You could at least offer me a drink, I did offer you one in the middle of a fight."

"Because you intended to distract me, and even if it pains me, I have to give you credit for being successful about that." Loki gestured towards the kitchen. "Feel free to find yourself a drink or some food in the kitchen, just stop bothering me. I do not care if you are bored, I want to rest."

With that Loki turned his attention to the TV that he had flicked on while he was talking. He switched through a few channels and settled on one with Doctor Who re-runs. Hmm, Tony would never have thought Loki would be into sci-fi or Doctor Who, but well, stranger things had happened.

He shrugged and got up to inspect the kitchen more closely. It was immaculately clean, but looked well used, with a decently sized fridge and freezer, a gas stove, electric kettle, simple but high quality coffee maker and a shiny toaster oven. A quick glance at the fridge and a short search through the cupboards didn't reveal any alcohol, so Tony decided to make coffee instead. He would have prefered a stronger drink, but coffee was still better than water - or some of the more unidentifiable, unlabeled things he had spotted in the fridge. Tony guessed Loki would have warned him if there was anything lethal in there - at least judging from the fact that he hadn't killed Tony yet - but he wasn't going to take any risks. Otherwise the fridge was rather well stocked, confirming his suspicion that Loki actually did cook his own meals. Huh, another surprising discovery to file away for later use.

The coffee maker finished with a loud gurgle a few minutes later and Tony decided on a whim to take some to Loki. He grabbed two big mugs out of the cupboard over the coffee maker and filled them, then took them over to the living area.

"I hope you like your coffee strong and black, because that's what I've got here." With that he held one mug out to Loki, who first gave him an undecipherable look, but then took the coffee with an almost-smile.

"Thank you, that sounds absolutely perfect right now."

Tony smiled at himself when he sat down on the sofa again. Who would have thought that he'd have something like a civil conversation with Loki and watch TV with him?

They sat in surprisingly comfortable silence for a while, just sipping their coffee and relaxing. But Tony wouldn't be himself if he could sit still for long without doing anything, so he started to fidget and tried to think of anything he could do to stave off the boredom. The TV had stopped being interesting right when the ads came on, and they would last for way too long. Who needed all this crap anyway?

"Sit still and shut up already, or I will have to make you." Loki's annoyed voice broke through Tony's thoughts. Had he been talking out loud? He tended to do that sometimes when he was lost in thought... Wait, had Loki just threatened to shut him up?

"I'd like to see you try." Tony shot back, suddenly angry. It wasn't his fault that he was bored out of his mind with nothing to do. After all he hadn't planned on being stuck here.

A devilish grin spread over Loki's face, then faster than Tony would have believed possible, he got up from his sofa and in one fluid motion threw himself at Tony who was still sitting on the other one, one leg folded under himself. Loki's weight pinned Tony down, bordering on painful where both their weight suddenly pressed one of his legs into the cushions. Loki's hands pressed into the back of the sofa, to both sides of Tony's head.

"What? Am I supposed to be scared now?" Tony snarled and tried to push Loki off with both hands to his chest. He would never admit that the unexpected move had actually scared him for a moment. When Loki didn't move an inch, Tony pressed as hard as he could, still to no avail. Oh, right, demi-god; he wasn't as muscular as Thor, but still stronger than a human. Tony had almost forgotten about that, now that Loki was not wearing his armour. Loki's grin just became predatory when he seemingly effortlessly held his position. "Get off me!" Tony gave one last push before he gave it up as useless.

"Are you quite done now?" Loki tilted his head questioningly. "You have met my brother, what makes you think that you are a match for me? Just because I don't share his obvious muscles, I am still stronger than any mere mortal like you." Now the grin turned mischievous. Tony hated to have his own thoughts turned back at him.

Honestly, how many different types of smiles, smirks and grins could one person have? And why was Tony still so calm? He didn't feel in danger from Loki, despite the way he was trapped by him right now. But what did this grin mean? Tony couldn't read Loki at all, but having him this close, on top of him, made Tony's body react in entirely inappropriate ways. He could just hope that Loki wouldn't notice. And why was Loki still staring at him with that infuriating grin? Tony took a deep breath to calm himself and to get his traitorous body under control.

Suddenly Loki's grin widened to a real smile. "So that's what it takes to shut you up? This should be fun."

Before Tony could begin to understand or react, Loki pressed even closer to him and caught his mouth in a harsh kiss. All thoughts had vanished from Tony's mind: he just kissed back, twisted his hands in Loki's shirt and pulled him closer. It was more bite and fight for dominance than kiss, but neither of them cared. Tony tasted blood, not sure if it was his or Loki's. He didn't care either way - quite the opposite. Did he like Loki? Hell no, but right now he wanted him, wanted to fuck him or get fucked by him - whatever. Wipe that infuriating grin off Loki's face, make him come undone with pleasure. Everything, anything, just more.

He heard a moan, not sure if it was his or Loki's, or if it came from both of them. His hands tugged more violently at Loki's shirt, made it rip at the seam. Loki pulled back suddenly at the sound of tearing fabric, lips swollen, pupils dilated, breathing heavily - Tony guessed he didn't look any different. A small movement of Loki's right hand, lips moving in a whisper Tony couldn't hear, then they were both naked. Huh, Loki seemed to be just as impatient as he was. Now it was Tony's turn for a smug smile.

"Guess even a Norse god can't resist Tony Stark," he quipped.

"Stop talking, or I'll have to take more drastic measures to ensure your silence." Loki almost snarled before he shifted them both with another one of his too fast movements, so they were stretched out on the sofa. Tony's head was awkwardly bent by the armrest, one of his legs dangled down, but then Loki was on top of him, pressed against him, skin on skin and none of his discomfort mattered any more.

They resumed their furious kissing, hands roughly exploring the other's body. There was nothing gentle or slow about it and they would both have bruises and scratches to show for it, but neither of them seemed to care.

Tony had given up fighting for control. Loki's body pushing him into the sofa, strong hands pressing just hard enough to blur the line between pleasure and pain, teeth nipping and biting just this side of too hard; it felt just too good to resist. Then Loki shifted, their erections rubbed against each other between their bodies, not slick enough, too rough, just perfect.

"Fuck!" Tony moaned and arched up to meet Loki's thrusts against his body.

"As you wish..." Loki chuckled against Tony's neck, where he had been leaving a bite mark.

Another sudden shift and Tony's arms were pressed up over his head, then held there by one strong, long fingered hand. He took in a sharp breath and tensed when he found himself helplessly pinned to the sofa without apparent effort from Loki. He was suddenly very aware of the facts that Loki and he were enemies and that he was completely naked and helpless.

Loki grinned down at him, then leaned in close so he could whisper in Tony's ear, "Please don't tell me you have changed your mind." His lips brushed Tony's ear, breath hot on his skin. "Because I want to fuck you so hard that you forget everything, even how to talk, and come all over yourself without a single touch to your cock." Tony gasped for air at the strong surge of lust that ran through him at those words, but at the same time he was afraid of what Loki could do to him; without the suit he didn't stand a chance against him. Loki had pulled back far enough to look down at Tony, to take in the emotions flitting over his face. He still kept Tony pinned to the sofa, but his expression turned serious. "If you don't want this, you should speak up now before I go any further. Do you want me to stop? I still don't like you, but I won't take what isn't freely offered."

Tony didn't know how to answer to that, but his fear subsided - he felt strangely safe here with his enemy, even in his current helpless state. He didn't want to stop, his whole body throbbed with arousal. Loki still hadn't moved, kept looking at him with curiosity. Tony made a conscious effort to relax and to gain at least some sense of control back, and took a deep breath. He put one of his well practiced lascivious smiles on his face.

"Who said anything about stopping?" An answering smile spread on Loki's face when Tony continued. "And two ridiculously hot guys like us don't need to like each other to get off." At that Loki chuckled.

"Comparing yourself with a god? That is a bit arrogant, don't you think?"

"Well, you were the one who jumped me..." Tony got interrupted by another bruising kiss and Loki's body pressing close to him again. He thrust his hips up to get more friction and moaned in the kiss when their erections brushed against each other.

Loki still had Tony's hands pinned over his head with one hand, the other kept moving over Tony's body, scratching, pinching, pressing almost too hard and just right. Suddenly there was a slick finger gliding over his balls, behind them, pushing against his entrance. Tony tensed again, he could still feel both of Loki's hands on other parts of his body. He turned his head to break the kiss.

"What..." Tony gasped.

"Magic can be quite useful sometimes." Loki murmured against his cheek. "Relax. It is not much different than using a toy, and I can keep my hands on you." A sharp pinch on Tony's left nipple made him gasp, and he relaxed a bit. "Believe me, I know what I am doing."

The fact that Loki tried to reassure him and didn't just push to get what he wanted did more for Tony to relax him than the actual words. They might be enemies, would certainly fight again, but this - right now - was consensual; he could stop it if he really wanted to. And if he was honest with himself, he didn't want it to stop. Again he took a few deep breaths to calm himself, then turned his head back to claim Loki's lips in another heated kiss. He couldn't do much else, pinned to the sofa as he was, and as much as he wanted to take some control, to touch Loki, to perhaps pin him down for a change, he had to admit that Loki definitely knew what he was doing. His hands, lips, teeth and whatever kind of magic he was using soon had Tony trembling with lust. He spread his legs as far as he could and moved his hips in time with the thrusts of the slick, slightly cool magic invading his body.

It felt so good, but wasn't enough, not much bigger than a single finger, Tony wanted more. Loki was still devouring his mouth, and he couldn't demand, ask, beg for more. Suddenly the pressure inside changed, the whatever it was in him grew, was wider and longer, stretched him while it still thrust in and out of his body at a maddeningly slow pace, only brushing his prostrate every so often. Tony whined in frustration, his cock was throbbing between their bodies. Every time Tony arched up to get more friction, Loki pulled back, kept the contact maddeningly light: it drove him crazy.

Then, finally the pressure inside reduced again, vanished completely and Loki pulled back. He stared down at Tony with his startling green eyes. "I will let go of your hands now, do not move."

"Does that mean you're finally going to fuck me?" Tony was surprised at how hoarse and needy he sounded.

"Since you are asking so nicely." Loki grinned, then lowered himself on top of Tony again. His cock brushed against Tony's ass, then, way too slowly, he pushed inside.

A needy whine escaped Tony, and he tried to push back, get more of Loki inside him.

"I thought I told you not to move." Loki pulled back again, until only the head of his cock was still inside of Tony. Who did he think he was? Tony would not let Loki control him like that, now that he wasn't pinned down any more. With a growl he gripped Loki by the back of the neck, his other hand scratching down the god's back hard enough to draw blood and make Loki hiss.

"Stop playing games with me!" Tony growled and bit down hard on Loki's neck. "Fuck me or get off so I can take care of myself."

"I was wondering how far I could push you." Loki laughed.

Then, finally, he began to move, hard and fast and just right. The sex was as frenzied and violent as their kissing had been earlier, it couldn't last long. After only a few minutes Tony was close - and judging from the way Loki's thrusts got more erratic, he wasn't far behind. Tony let go of Loki's neck and reached between their bodies, jerking himself off. Just a few hard strokes later his orgasm slammed through his body, he arched up and came with a loud groan. Before he had completely come down, Loki gave one last hard thrust and stilled, then came as well. He had his head thrown back and was biting his already swollen and bruised lower lip, then he collapsed on top of Tony.

After they had both caught their breath again, Loki moved off Tony's body. When he slipped free of his ass Tony hissed at the slight discomfort - he was going to be quite sore. Not that he minded, the sex had been way too good to regret any lingering pains. A quick gesture and a few murmured words from Loki and they were both cleaned up.

"Huh, magic really is quite useful sometimes." Tony would have been content to just stay on the sofa for a while longer, but Loki threw his clothes at him.

"I have not gotten as much rest as I had planned, but I can take you out of here now. Get dressed and put your suit on, then we can leave." With that Loki walked towards his bedroom and left Tony alone in the living room that still smelled of sex.

Tony looked at Loki's retreating back, admiring the view for as long as he could - and taking some pride in the fact that he wasn't the only one who would have visible marks from their encounter. Deep scratches down his back stood out red against Loki's pale skin and there was a bite mark right where shoulder met neck. With a grin Tony forced himself up from the sofa and got dressed.

When he was about halfway done putting on the suit, Loki reappeared once again wearing his armour and coat and even the helmet. Without a word he helped Tony to get the rest of the suit on: he obviously remembered how the parts fit together from when he had taken it apart earlier. Tony was glad because the suit still was dead and did not move, so he couldn't have put it on alone - and he certainly didn't want to leave it behind.

Loki stepped in front of him and put both arms around Tony's waist. "It was much more entertaining to have you here than I would have thought." He had barely finished his sentence when Tony felt the strange sensations of being teleported again - it wasn't any more pleasant the second time around. Then he found himself on a small clearing surrounded by trees, the suit booted up. Hmm, Central Park, not far from home. Loki took a step back, grinned at Tony and disappeared.

Well, that might not have gone as he had planned when he charged Loki during the battle, but it turned out it wasn't the stupidest idea he had ever had. Maybe he should do it again next time they had to fight Loki, if it could lead to more wild sex. With a grin Tony took off to fly back to the tower and contacted the rest of the team to let them know he was okay.


	2. Loki's bad idea

Tony couldn't stop thinking about his encounter with Loki. Even when he was working in his lab he caught his mind wandering to what had happened, how much he had enjoyed himself and that he'd do it again in a heartbeat. Probably not a good idea, but since when did that stop him?

Oh, he still didn't like Loki, still fought him when he was creating chaos, still traded banter - but the sex had been incredibly hot and he really wouldn't mind getting a repeat of that. The fact that they didn't like each other was probably part of why it was so good. They didn't have to feel guilty in the least to get rough and even hurt each other - and just walk away once they had gotten off.

But so far he hadn't seen an opportunity, apart from again tackling Loki during a fight. And he'd prefer to be a bit less out of his depth and at Loki's mercy next time. So for the last three months all he could do was fantasise about what they might do if they got up close and naked again - and he had a few ideas about that; after all he had a very vivid imagination.

And now, another fight, Loki and some wannabe bad boy who built armed bots - really? another one of those? - against the Avengers. It had been going on for some time already, Tony and the rest of his team busy with shooting down and disarming bots or getting civilians out of the way. Loki was keeping mostly out of the fight, just involving himself enough to keep them from efficiently taking care of this kid who was playing at being a mad scientist.

This was getting ridiculous. Why was Loki even here? He didn't do much to help the kid or hinder them, but was just being a nuisance in every way he could. And he didn't seem to have any other plans. He just stood there on a rooftop and surveyed the fight, flinging out a spell every once in a while. Tony decided that if Loki wasn't interested in joining the fight, he would take the fight to him. He waited until Loki was distracted and looking away from him, creating a disturbance for Cap and the Widow. He quickly flew around the building to come up in Loki's back and hid under a canopy to make sure that Loki hadn't noticed where he went. A few moments later, he flew up and landed behind Loki, who just turned and grinned at him.

"I had begun to think I had to send you an invitation."

Before Tony could make sense of Loki's words he was grabbed at the shoulders and felt himself being teleported again. The experience definitely didn't get better with repetition. Thankfully it was over fast, and they landed in what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse. The moment they were on solid ground, Tony's suit shut down - again - and began to peel away from him. Huh, that was new.

"What the fuck are you doing to my suit?" Tony growled at Loki. And growling was pretty much all he could do, since Loki was standing several steps away from him, and Tony's legs were still held immobile by his suit.

"What does it look like? I am assisting you in taking it off, of course." Tony could almost see the sarcasm drip off Loki. "Don't worry, I have no plans to destroy it. You will have it back in one piece when I'm done with you."

A shiver ran down Tony's spine at those last words, memories of the last time he had been alone with Loki flooding his mind in vivid detail. Suddenly he didn't mind the idea of getting out of the suit at all. If he was honest with himself, it couldn't go fast enough for him. Once the suit was removed he paused, giving his mind time to work properly again, or at least to think of something besides getting naked and up close with Loki.

"Wait! Did you start an attack on innocent people in the middle of the city to get me here?" Tony stalked towards Loki and poked him in the chest with one hand. "What happened to 'I don't kill if I can avoid it'?"

"It is not my fault that this... child I decided to work with was too stupid and impatient to follow instructions." Loki was visibly annoyed. "I did my best to keep his mechanical creatures away from anyone but your team of mighty heroes." There it was again, his infuriating sarcasm.

"Why did you team up with an amateur like that anyway? I get that it was hard to stay away from me, but there are easier ways to get my attention." Tony grinned. "It never is worth it to work with amateurs, they're way too much trouble."

"I came to realise the same thing." Disdain for his former ally was clear in Loki's voice. "I chose him because I wanted someone your team could fight without too much trouble. After all, I had planned to take you out of the fight, and we wouldn't want any of them to get harmed." A sarcastic smirk replaced the frown on Loki's face. "And since this boy stupidly chose to stand in the middle of the fight instead of out of harms way, I don't even have to hand him over later. He will most likely have been defeated by your friends already and taken into custody."

"I still veto fights in the middle of the city just to get my attention. Make better plans next time." Tony growled, then took one last step towards Loki. He was infuriated at the possible collateral damage, but impressed despite himself by the fact that Loki had actually planned how to best get him away from the rest of his team without harming them. He grabbed the other man by the back of the neck and pulled him into a harsh kiss. "But I bet you can make it up to me." He grinned up at Loki, the challenge clear for both of them.

"Why would you think I have anything to make up to you?" Loki grinned back. "I would say you should make this worth the trouble I have gone through to get you here."

"Well, I'm sure this can be satisfying for both of us. But last time I let you take control..."

"Let me take control?" Loki interrupted Tony. "We seem to remember things quite differently, I was sure I did just what I wanted and did not give you a choice about who was to be in control." Loki smirked and brought both of Tony's hands behind his back before Tony had a chance to react. "You seem to forget that I am much stronger than you."

Tony gasped in surprise at the sudden movement, but returned Loki's stare. If he was honest with himself, the casual display of strength turned him on - but there was no need to let Loki know about that. "I'm not going to make that mistake again." He shrugged. "But where's the fun in doing things the same way all the time?" He pressed himself closer against Loki, rubbed his awakening erection against a leather clad hip. "Wouldn't you like to get a taste of my cock? I'd be glad to return the favour." He grinned when Loki took in a sharp breath this time. "I bet you'll look great with your lips wrapped around my cock. And I know for a fact that I look good on my knees."

Loki laughed at that. "So sure of yourself again? But I have to admit, I do not mind pleasuring you if it means I get you to kneel for me." He let go of Tony's hands and gave him a gentle push towards a mattress in a corner. It stood out against the dirty floor and walls and the debris covering the rest of the warehouse, was obviously new and clean. Huh, Loki seemed to really have planned this. "You should remove your clothes and lay down over there. I will not kneel just because it would please you."

Tony rolled his eyes, but stripped while he walked over to the corner, then looked back over his shoulder. "As long as I get a blowjob out of it, I don't care whether you kneel or not." He sank down on the mattress and turned to watch Loki take off his armour piece by piece. With every item he dropped he stepped a bit closer, taking his time to undress and to move. Tony licked his lips as finally some pale skin was visible, then let his right hand wander down his own body until he reached his cock. He began to stroke himself with slow, languid movements. "You should hurry, or I'm going to start without you." When Loki stilled at his words, stared at him for a moment and then removed the last of his clothes by magic before closing the rest of the distance between them, Tony chuckled. "You can complain all you want that I'm full of myself, but you really seem to like what you see."

Anything else he might have wanted to say was interrupted by Loki stretching out on top of him and kissing him hard and fast. "I like you better when you are not talking." He murmured between kisses and rolled them so they were laying on their sides before capturing Tony's lips in another kiss.

A long-fingered hand pushed Tony's away and began stroking him just as slowly as he had done himself - but so much better, just the knowledge that Loki of all people was jerking him off made Tony moan into their kiss. Loki bit his lip at that, and Tony could feel him grin against his skin, but he didn't care. Then Loki's mouth moved lower, down his neck, over his collarbone and Tony couldn't think any more, could just feel. This was so different from last time; still not gentle, but nowhere near as savage. Kisses, licks and bites down his chest made him moan and groan, then teeth closed around his nipple, teased, pulled, made him gasp. Tony thrust his hips helplessly, but Loki just chuckled against his skin and kept up the aggravatingly slow and light touches on his cock.

Finally, as Tony was almost ready to beg, Loki slid lower and wet, hot lips closed around his cock. Tony looked down, met Loki's gaze and almost came right there and then. He had been right, Loki looked sinful with his lips around Tony's cock, watching him with his startlingly green eyes, pupils blown wide. No doubt about it, he was enjoying himself. Loki grinned as much as possible with Tony's cock in his mouth, then began to move, sucking, swirling his tongue while he kept Tony's hips pinned in place, and Tony was lost in the pleasure of it. He was so close, needed to come, didn't want it to end - and Loki seemed to know exactly when he was on the brink, changed his rhythm, denied him release. And during all of this, he never looked away, kept their gazes locked until Tony was babbling a constant stream of pleas and curses. He wanted to bury his hands into Loki's hair, hold him down, fuck into his mouth until he came, but he forced himself to not even try, too afraid that Loki would stop completely.

Again he was close, and he desperately balled his hands into fists to keep them to himself. Then Loki did something with his tongue and the pleasure was almost too much to stand. "Loki, please!" Tony almost sobbed, and this time Loki didn't stop. Tony came with a hoarse cry, pleasure surging through his body, leaving him breathless.

While Tony slowly came down and caught his breath, Loki moved until they were face to face again. At the sight of Loki licking his slightly swollen lips, Tony had to suppress a moan.

"I hope I did not tire you too much for you to keep your promise. I can't wait to see you on your knees so I can use you for my pleasure." Loki's voice was teasing, one eyebrow almost comically raised in mock expectation.

Tony just grinned at him lazily, then let his gaze travel down Loki's body. "By the looks of it you did enjoy sucking my cock." He looked up again. "And it takes more than a blowjob - no matter how good - to keep me from something I want. I definitely want a taste of this." With that he closed his hand around Loki's erection and stroked it a few times. He was rewarded with a sharp intake of breath and Loki's eyes fluttered closed for a moment. "But if you want me to kneel, you'll have to stand up first." With another grin he pulled his hand away from Loki's cock before drawing the other man into a heated kiss. He could still taste himself on Loki's tongue; it was so hot to just think about Loki's mouth on him, it made him moan again. That image would stay with him for a while.

Loki ended their kiss with a sharp bite to Tony's lower lip which made him hiss, then fluidly moved to his feet, looking more elegant than should be humanly possible. He pulled Tony with him, effortlessly moved him into a kneeling position right in front of him. "Hands behind your back, I want to take my pleasure from you now." Loki's voice was hard, his hand gripped the hair at the back of Tony's neck tight enough for it to hurt just right. "And you will open up and let me do just that, because you are so eager to taste me."

Tony licked his lips in anticipation, it had been way too long since he'd been in this position. He probably should complain, put up at least a bit of a fight, but he remembered how good it felt to submit, to get used by someone else. He hurried to comply and clasped his hands behind his back, then shifted his position so his mouth was just inches away from Loki's cock. He licked his lips again when Loki's grip tightened in his hair, then he was pulled forward until his lips brushed the tip of Loki's erection. He couldn't resist and licked over it, tasted a drop of precum.

Loki murmured in approval, then without warning pushed into Tony's mouth. Slowly, but relentlessly he pushed in further and further, until Tony's nose was pressed into his groin and Tony couldn't breathe any more. He felt dizzy and oh so good and moaned around the cock that was choking him. Just as slowly Loki pulled back, all the way out and Tony gasped in a few harsh breaths.

"I knew you would like this," Loki almost purred, "you were made to be used." Any thought about protesting that might have run through Tony's mind vanished when Loki thrust into his mouth again, began to fuck his mouth hard and fast. It felt so good to be used like this, Tony didn't care any more what Loki thought of him, of his submission, he just gave himself over to the pleasure and pain of the hand gripping and pulling at his hair, the hard cock fucking his mouth relentlessly, pushing down his throat, taking his breath away. It had just been minutes since he had a mind blowing orgasm, but Tony could feel his cock twitch in response to the rough treatment. It was like their first encounter, rough, fast and just right. He moaned around the cock invading him, fucking his throat, which seemed to encourage Loki to go faster and harder until he came with a suppressed cry.

The hand on Tony's hair loosened its grip and Loki slowly pulled his softening cock out of his mouth. Then he sank down on the mattress, pulled Tony with him and kissed him hard, demandingly. After a while they separated and Loki stared at Tony with a curious expression.

"I did not think you would give in without a fight and just let me use you like that."

Tony shrugged. "Don't expect me to do that all the time - and don't think that you have me all figured out."

"I would not dream of it." Loki smirked at him. "It is interesting to finally meet someone who is able to surprise me."

Tony grinned back. "I'm very good at surprising people, keeps them on their toes and me entertained."

"That is true." Loki looked at Tony for a long moment, a strange expression on his face that Tony couldn't quite read. "As much fun as this has been, I have to leave you now. Your suit should be fully functional shortly after I have left." With a look that seemed to be almost regretful, Loki stood up and summoned his armour back to himself. He grinned down at Tony, who hadn't moved yet and still sprawled naked across the mattress. "We will meet again, Tony Stark, then you can prove to me just how much I still have to learn about you." Then he was gone and Tony was alone.

He shivered, the temperature in the warehouse seemed to have suddenly dropped a few degrees. "Bastard, could at least have warned me that I'd freeze my butt off as soon as he'd left," Tony grumbled while he hurried to get dressed and back into his suit. Loki had been right, the suit booted up as soon as he had put some key parts together. He had a trace on his location and a comm channel to the team open before he was fully into the suit, he wanted to make sure that everyone was okay.

"What happened, Tony?" Cap's voice sounded concerned. Huh, he had no idea how he would explain his disappearance this time. Not to mention that it wasn't easy to lie convincingly enough to fool Natasha.

"Loki happened, but I'm fine, I'll tell you more later." Yep, buying time was good, then he could think of a good way to talk around the truth. As much as he hated to lie to them, he didn't think they would understand what was going on with him and Loki - not that he himself did fully understand it. He just was sure that this wouldn't be their last encounter - and that Loki wanted there to be a next time just as much as he did. He changed the subject. "Did you get that kid and his robots?"

"Yes, all under control, he's been handed over to SHIELD. We're just heading back to the tower."

"Then I'll meet you there." With that he cut communication and made his way home, still thinking about a satisfying explanation that would contain enough of the truth to convince his teammates - his friends.


	3. they both have a bad idea today

After his encounter with Loki, Tony had flown back to the tower, removed the suit and taken a shower before he met with the rest of the team. He needed some time to sort his story out and to remove all traces of sex.

When they were all comfortably sitting in the communal living room, Steve had quickly briefed him on the rest of their fight, which had been over remarkably fast once Loki's distractions were out of the equation.

"The young man that was fighting with Loki has been captured and we handed him over to SHIELD as soon as we had disabled all of his bots," Cap finished his report. "And what on earth happened to you?" Everyone's attention turned to Tony.

"Not quite sure..." Tony shrugged his shoulders. "I tried a surprise attack on Loki and instead of fighting me, he charged me and teleported both of us to an abandoned warehouse. Just like last time my suit was shut down and I was basically trapped in my own armour until the suit booted up again."

"Why would my brother do that to you?" Thor wanted to know.

"You're asking me? How should I know, he didn't bother to tell me." Tony hoped he had managed to sound convincing enough. Apart from Natasha, who gave him a strange look, nobody seemed to notice anything. "If we ever find out why Loki does the things he does, we might be able to defeat him."

They had to agree and somehow a discussion started about possible motivations Loki could have for his attacks, the pranks he played on them. Tony did his best to keep it going - it was better to have everyone's attention on something else. Not even Natasha asked any more questions of him and he hoped it would stay that way. So far he hadn't really been lying to them, had just omitted part of the truth, but if they dug deeper he didn't know if he'd still be able to convince them. Or if he really wanted to lie to his friends like that.

But now that he was alone again, Tony found that he couldn't focus. His mind kept going back to Loki - and not just the sex. Why did he feel so attracted to him? True, Loki was a very good looking guy, but that wasn't all. Usually Tony had more self control than that, after all he didn't feel the urge to jump Steve at every opportunity - and the good Captain was just as good looking as Loki, just in a different way. And yeah, if he was honest with himself, it wasn't just sexual attraction. Tony felt strangely at ease with Loki, even trusted him. He knew that he shouldn't trust him, that they were enemies, but when he was with Loki he didn't care anymore. He just felt safe with the other man and knew he would never intentionally hurt - no, injure - him. Hurting each other wasn't a problem at all, they both did that, enjoyed it even - but that wasn't the same as causing harm.

Oh, during their first encounter Tony had been scared a few times, but he had to admit that he had just been thrown off balance because he had forgotten just how strong Loki was. It was obvious that Loki wasn't inclined to do anything Tony didn't want, or he wouldn't have taken the time to make sure he had Tony's consent that first time. Tony wasn't even sure if he would have stopped as Loki had done - unless he had been asked to of course.

And then there was the strange urge he felt to stay after sex, to keep kissing and touching, just being close to Loki and enjoying the company. Or to just talk, spend time together - not that they had done any of that, Loki had made sure of it... Tony ran his hands through his hair and sighed. Well, he wouldn't get much work done today. He probably should get out of the workshop and distract himself if he wanted to do anything other than think about Loki.

Two weeks later, Tony was still way too often lost in his memories, trying to figure out what it was between him and Loki. Tonight was a charity event which he and the whole team had to attend, he should probably get a grip if he didn't want them to notice that anything was off. For the last two weeks he had mostly been hidden in his workshop and avoided spending too much time with any of the others, but today there was no way out of it.

With a sigh Tony dragged himself to the shower and then dressed in the hated tuxedo. Oh, he knew he looked good in it, but he hated dressing up that much just to impress other people. Well, he hated everything he had to do because other people expected it of him. Perhaps a drink might help to calm his mind. Tony poured himself a generous amount of good Scotch and drank it while he got ready for the event. He was barely done when JARVIS announced that Captain Rogers and the rest of the team were waiting for him in the communal living room. Tony glanced at the mirror, put on the fake smile reserved for public appearances and went to join the team.

The party wasn't that bad actually, especially since Tony didn't have to do all the talking, the rest of the team got more than enough attention as well and he had time to get a drink or two. Well, maybe a few more, but who was going to count? Around 11pm he was pleasantly buzzed and absentmindedly followed the story somebody was telling him - he paid just enough attention to nod at the right moments and say something noncommittal when it was expected of him. He doubted that the other guy, whoever he was, even noticed that Tony didn't really listen. His mind wandered off, and yes, went back to Loki and how sinful he had looked while sucking Tony off.

Before the situation could get awkward, since Tony's body decided to react with a sudden, inappropriate erection, a beautiful, red haired woman across the room turned around. She smiled at Tony, who just happened to look into her direction, and then she sauntered over.

"Tony Stark, nice to finally meet you, I'm Alex Brown." She smiled at Tony, then turned to the slightly irritated man that had been talking to him. "I'm terribly sorry for interrupting you, but can I borrow Mr Stark for a short while?" She batted her eyelashes, then looked at Tony again, winked and put a hand on his arm without waiting for an answer. "Why don't we go to the bar, I don't know about you but I could do with a drink."

Tony smiled apologetically at the other man - he still didn't know his name - then allowed himself to be led towards the bar.

"You looked bored out of your mind, and so was I. Thought I could rescue both of us." Alex grinned at him. "I hope you don't mind."

Tony grinned back. "Not at all, Alex. Who would mind being rescued by a beautiful woman like yourself?" He winked, then properly looked at her for the first time. A bit shorter than him, but not much. Long, red curls - both colour and curls seemed to be natural. Hazel eyes, beautiful face, understated makeup that nonetheless drew attention to her eyes and soft lips without concealing the hint of freckles on her cheeks. Black dress that accentuated her curves, nice legs. Yes, definitely beautiful and obviously more entertaining than the guy he had been forced to talk to earlier.

"Considering your reputation, I'm not sure if I should feel insulted or flattered by your compliment and the way you just appraised me," she laughed. "But it's much better for my ego to take it as a compliment, so I'm going with that." Tony couldn't help but laugh with her. Yes, definitely more interesting.

They had reached the bar and ordered their drinks, then sat down in two comfortable chairs in the lounge area next to it. For the next while, Tony didn't bother to check how long, they comfortably chatted, trading banter and openly flirting with each other. Perhaps that was exactly what he needed to get his mind off Loki, a night with someone else. He amped up the flirting a notch, made it clear that he wouldn't mind taking her home - and she didn't seem inclined to let him go alone. What else was there to say? Tony made his excuses, let Steve know that he was leaving, and called Happy to drive them home.

As soon as they were in the car they kissed and made out like teenagers. It was great; she was soft and pliant, but not timid - not that Tony had expected her to be. By the time they arrived at the tower, they both were out of breath and looked slightly disheveled, even if nothing but kissing and a bit of over the clothes groping had happened yet. Tony couldn't wait to get her to bed, wanted to see what she was hiding underneath her stockings and dress. Best of all, she seemed to be just as eager as he was, couldn't keep her hands off him while they rode the elevator up to the penthouse.

Alex didn't even really look around when they had arrived, just grabbed his hand and asked: "Bedroom?"

Tony pulled her into a kiss, then maneuvered her through the living area into his bedroom. Once they were inside, he turned her around, pushed the door closed and pressed her against it in another passionate kiss. His hands wandered over her body until they reached the bottom of her dress and pushed up underneath the skirt. His breath caught for a moment, she wasn't wearing tights but stockings with garters, nice.

"You're wearing too many clothes," he mouthed against her neck.

"You're one to talk," she laughed, but stepped away from the wall, turned around and lifted her hair. "Help me with the zipper, Tony. And as much as I like a man in a nice tux, there are way too many layers covering you up right now."

Tony had to grin, he really like how forward she was. When her zipper was down, he kissed the back of her neck - it was impossible to resist the pale skin revealed between the red of her hair and the black of the dress.

"I like a woman who knows what she wants."

"Lucky me, because I know exactly what I want right now." Alex winked at him, then shimmied out of her dress and toed off her high heels. She was wearing a black, lacy bra with matching panties and garter belt with sheer black stockings - contrasting beautifully with her pale skin. When her hands moved down to remove the stockings, Tony interrupted her.

"Leave them on, I like the way they look on you."

Alex shrugged and gave him an expectant look. "Are you going to undress, or do I have to help you?"

"I just wanted to have your full attention." Tony smiled at her, then slowly stripped out of his tuxedo. When he was naked except for red boxer briefs and a white undershirt, he hesitated despite the appreciative looks Alex was giving him. He wasn't quite comfortable with strangers seeing the arc reactor, didn't want to see disgust or pity on the face of someone he wanted to take to bed. "If you don't mind, I'm going to leave that on for now. Have to keep at least a bit of a mystery." He joked to hide his insecurity.

Alex raised her eyebrows, but didn't comment. She just closed the distance between them pushed him gently backwards to the bed. "Well, I like what I'm seeing so far." One of her hands wandered over his chest, brushed the arc reactor, then went lower without even hesitating for a second until she was cupping the erection tenting his boxers. "And you seem to like me as well."

Tony laughed, put his arms around her waist and let himself drop onto the bed, pulling her with him. "What gave you that idea?" He grinned and pushed into her touch. Yes, she was fun, it had been a good idea to take her home - and Tony was sure that there would be a lot more fun happening soon.

Just when he was about to open her bra, there was a strange sound next to his bed, then Alex was yanked off him. For a moment Tony could only stare at Loki, what was he doing here? And why on earth was he looking so furious? Shit, Tony had to get him away from Alex, before she got harmed.

"Loki!" The god turned his head, but didn't release his grip on Alex's neck. "Leave her alone and tell me what the fuck you're doing in my bedroom in the middle of the night! And how did you even get here?" Loki's stare would have made most people flinch and look away, but Tony held his gaze until Loki let go of Alex.

She winced and rubbed her neck. "Tony, what the fuck is happening here?" She sounded ready to start a fight.

Without breaking eye contact to Loki, Tony spoke to her. "Alex, get dressed and go. I'm sorry, I have no idea what's going on here." She made a sound as if to protest. "Go! I don't want to have to worry about you. I can handle this." After a moment's hesitation he heard her move across the room and the shuffle of clothes when she hurriedly got dressed. "JARVIS, make sure that Happy takes Miss Brown home safely." He hesitated for a moment, then decided he should make sure that nobody else would get involved in this. He continued his instructions: "Stop all surveillance on my penthouse until further notice and cancel all alarms that might have gone off at Loki's sudden appearance, I don't need Steve or anyone else barging in and trying to save me."

"Sir, are you certain about cancelling the alarms?" JARVIS sounded concerned.

"JARVIS, do as you're told for once, I don't want to argue with my own AI right now." Tony pressed out between clenched teeth. "I can handle myself, as you know very well."

"As you wish, sir. I will let Captain Rogers know that the alarm was a malfunction." Tony let out a relieved breath. "Miss Brown, please go to the elevator, Happy will be waiting in the garage to take you home." JARVIS directed Alex, his disapproval for the orders he had been given clearly audible in his voice. A minute or so after Alex had entered the elevator, he addressed Tony again. "Miss Brown has left, she was not happy to leave you alone, but I think I have convinced her not to call the authorities. Captain Rogers has been notified and I will stop surveillance in 10 seconds."

"Thank you, JARVIS." Tony turned his full attention back to Loki, who was still standing next to the bed and glaring daggers at him. "Care to explain what's going on here?"

Loki stalked towards the bed, and Tony felt a shiver run down his spine, part fear, part excitement and part arousal. Loki's anger made him look like a predator, beautiful and deadly, and that touched something in Tony - he wasn't quite sure what. He only knew he wanted this beautiful creature and that he still wasn't really afraid of Loki, no matter how dangerous he looked.

"You are mine!" Loki growled when he reached the bed. With a casual display of strength he pushed Tony back on the bed and made the last of his clothes disappear, leaving Tony naked and exposed. "I don't like anyone touching what's mine."

Tony swallowed, then slowly stretched his arms over his head, wrists crossed. He still didn't know why Loki was here, but it was clear he wouldn't be able to reason with Loki now. It would have to wait until later. And Tony was still painfully aroused, now even more than he had been before, so getting laid sounded great. "Then come here and take what's yours." Tony spread his legs in invitation.

Loki licked his lips, then somehow let his own clothes disappear at the same time that the strange magic he had used before was preparing Tony. Slick, cool pressure, pushing into him, stretching him fast, almost too much, but he arched into it, spread his legs further. His cock got impossibly harder when he realized what a picture he must present, hands over his head, legs spread, his whole body on display for Loki.

For the first time since Loki had appeared, Tony let his gaze wander away from his face, over his beautiful, slim body and down to his groin. He couldn't suppress a moan at the sight of Loki stroking himself while he was watching Tony writhe on the bed. His moan seemed to break Loki's concentration, because the magic invading his body was suddenly gone, left him feeling empty. But not for long, because Loki almost threw himself on the bed, on top of Tony and pressed his wrists into the mattress.

"Mine!" Loki growled again, before devouring Tony's mouth in a brutal kiss and pushing into him at the same time. The sudden intrusion hurt after what little preparation he'd had, but Loki had the perfect angle to hit Tony's prostate. It made him shout into the kiss in a mix of pain and pleasure and he raised his hips to meet every single one of Loki's hard thrusts. His mind swam, lost in the confusing contrast of pleasure and pain of being fucked so hard, of being kissed and bitten, pressed into the mattress, held immobile. He was utterly helpless, at Loki's mercy and he loved every second of it.

"Loki," Tony gasped out when Loki released his mouth just to bite hard on his neck, hard enough to bruise and probably even to draw some blood.

Loki stilled immediately and looked up at him, and yes, there was a faint hint of blood on his lower lip.

"Don't stop!" Tony arched his back again in an attempt to either get Loki to keep fucking him or to at least get some friction on his cock. He was desperate for release, had been so close. And Loki still didn't move, looked at him with something like shock on his face.

"I..." Loki shook his head, then started again. "Did I hurt you? I lost control for a while." He released his hold on Tony's wrists and attempted to move away.

"Don't you dare. Stay here and fuck me!" Tony's hands flew up and curled into Loki's hair and around his shoulder. "In case you didn't notice, I am enjoying myself here." Tony hooked his legs around Loki's hips and pulled him back in, they both gasped. "I'm not made from spun glass, you won't break me."

He seemed to have gotten at least partly through to Loki, because he started to move again, even if he did so much more carefully than before.

"Harder!" Tony demanded, "I want to feel this in the morning." Loki snapped his hips hard and fast, once, twice. "Yes, like that, fuck me as hard as you can." Tony gasped out.

"I hope you know what you are asking for." Loki's grin was predatory again, then he pinned Tony's hands down before fucking him even harder than before. Tony couldn't do anything, wasn't even able to push back into every thrust, he could just lay there and take it - it was perfect. Loki's tongue licking over the bite mark from earlier made him gasp, then teeth slowly increased pressure on the bruised and sore area around it. A steady stream of words and pleas tumbled out of Tony's mouth; he didn't know what he was saying anymore, didn't care, he could only feel, was trapped between the painful bite on his neck and pleasure of being fucked so thoroughly. His orgasm rushed over him, so intense; it seemed to last forever while Loki just kept fucking into him, held him pinned down. It was so good, then almost too much - and Loki stilled, buried as deep in Tony's body as possible.

He bit down one last time on Tony's neck, then Loki's whole body tensed up, and he came. Tony could feel Loki's cock twitch, could feel and see the god tremble, hear his gasping breaths, feel them on the oversensitive skin of his neck. They both slumped down on the bed, utterly spent and unable to move.

A few minutes later Loki released his hold on Tony's wrists and pushed himself up so he could look at Tony's face.

"I am sorry, I have no idea what has gotten into me." He studied Tony with a mix of concern and embarrassment. "I should leave you now, be assured that this will not happen again."

Tony locked his legs and arms around Loki and refused to let go when he tried to move away. "You should stay and talk to me. Not that I mind a surprise visit that results in great sex, but what the fuck were you doing here in the first place?" He looked up at Loki and smiled reassuringly. No way he was letting Loki go without an explanation after the other had interrupted his date so rudely. "If I let go of you, can you clean us up? I think this talk might go better if we aren't sticking together."

Loki smiled a little at that, then nodded. "I will stay. You are right; I owe you an explanation."

Tony let go and allowed Loki to move away. True to his word he cleaned them up, then dressed himself slowly. He was clearly stalling, but Tony didn't mind giving him some time - he decided to get dressed himself and put on a slightly faded Black Sabbath shirt and sweatpants. When they were both dressed and the silence began to be awkward, Tony walked to the door leading to his living area.

"I don't know about you, but I could do with a drink." He looked over his shoulder at Loki who seemed uncomfortable. "What's your poison?" Tony tried to seem carefree, wanted to put Loki at ease because the god still looked as if he might balk at the first opportunity.

"Whatever you are having will be fine." Loki shrugged, then put some effort into pulling himself together before he followed Tony out of the room.

Tony didn't look back until he had reached the bar and filled two tumblers with a generous amount of Scotch. He took his time and when he finally turned around Loki looked much more like his usual self.

He handed one tumbler to Loki and pointed to the sitting area with sofas and armchairs. "Let's get more comfortable." To his surprise Loki still followed his instructions and sat in an armchair facing the windows. Tony walked over to a sofa to the left of Loki and folded himself into a corner. He was willing to wait for a while longer if that meant he wouldn't chase Loki away before he had an explanation.

After a while Loki began to talk, still looking at his own reflection in the window. "You said last time that there were better ways to capture your attention than starting a fight..." He hesitated and sipped on his drink. "Tonight I wanted to do just that, I did not expect you to be home." A nervous glance to Tony, who stayed carefully relaxed and just smiled slightly to encourage Loki to continue. "I have been counting on the fact that you would be alerted of intruders, I could not imagine that you would not have protections here similar to mine." Another short pause, another sip. His hand went to an inside pocket of his coat, took out a piece of paper. "This has instructions on how to let me know that you would like to meet again at the warehouse. I intended to leave it for you to find." He took a deep breath. "There was a lot of media coverage of the event tonight, I was certain you would still be there, and I could leave the message for you without disturbing you." His voice trailed off, he still hadn't looked at Tony.

"And then you found me in bed with someone else." Tony continued for him, Loki's head snapped in his direction. "You should have known that that's not unusual behaviour for me." Tony held Loki's gaze. "And I didn't know you were the jealous type - not to mention that we are enemies, not lovers." Hurt flashed over Loki's face, and he turned to look out the window again.

"I am not certain what we are, but I no longer wish to be your enemy." Loki's voice was barely more than a whisper. "In your company I feel more easy than in that of anyone else, and more comfortable than I have felt in a very long time. You feel safe. I am not afraid to show myself to you - and I want to be honest with you." He looked at Tony. "It scares me, but the feeling does not go away."

"I know," Tony took a deep breath, deciding to be just as honest, "I had company tonight because I was trying to forget about you." Loki seemed to be startled at that admission, but the haunted look in his eyes left. "My mind keeps wandering back to our encounters, to how safe I feel with you even if you could easily break me in half, to how companionable it felt to watch TV with you even if I was bored out of my mind with nothing to do. I didn't feel as if I was with an enemy, and I don't feel like it now."

"What does that make us, if we are neither enemies nor lovers?" Loki inquired.

"I don't know, but does it need a definition?" Tony shrugged his shoulders. "I just don't think the rest of my team will understand, so we should make a plan on where to go from here. Randomly teleporting yourself into my penthouse is not the best idea, since all of them have access to it."

"So you want to meet me again, even after what I did tonight?"

"You didn't do anything I didn't encourage." Tony reached out and covered Loki's hand on the armrest with his own. "And when you thought I wanted you to stop, you did. I trust you not to go too far. I know that you won't force me to do anything against my will." Loki gave him an incredulous look. "Hey, I don't know why I trust you, but I do - I did from the beginning. I was more startled and surprised than genuinely afraid even then." He smiled at Loki. "And you made certain that I wanted you when you realized that you had scared me. You will probably try to push my limits, but I don't think you'll ignore them."

Loki tentatively smiled back. "Tonight I did not ask, did not even think about anything but claiming you as mine."

"After I invited you to do just that. Perhaps not in so many words, but I offered my body to you - not because I was scared you'd take it anyway, but because I wanted to."

"I am not sure if I would have cared."

"But I am." Tony assured. "You should have noticed by now that I don't mind my sex with a side of pain, quite the opposite. And as soon as I said your name, you did stop. Stop worrying about what-ifs."

"I tend to hurt people who are close to me."

"Welcome to the club. My track record in that area isn't great either." Tony shrugged again, then stood up and walked to a cabinet. "Give me a second, I've got something for you." He rummaged through the contents until he found what he was looking for. "Ha, here it is... I knew I had a spare StarkPhone around here somewhere!" He tossed it over to Loki, who caught it and studied it with interest. "It's ready to use, my number should be already in it. Way easier than teleporting into my bedroom." He winked. "I guess you're more capable of handling technology than Thor, you should be able to figure out how to use it."

Loki couldn't help but grin at that. "And I am less likely to scare innocent women half to death when I call you."

"That too." Tony grinned back. "Another advantage is that it works both ways, not like the magic whatever that I was supposed to use to contact you."

"If you knew how to use magic, it would be just as useful as your technology, if not more so."

"Really? I don't think so. Science at least follows logic and everyone with some brains can learn it. Magic makes no sense." Tony smiled, this felt more familiar than the serious talk earlier.

"Just because you are not able to understand it, does not mean that magic makes no sense." Loki said mock offended, but his smile gave him away. "I should leave now, before your friends are back and want to see if you are well." He pocketed the phone. "I promise not to do anything that will require the Avengers to take action, at least for a while. I would really like to find out where this will take the two of us."

"That sounds good. And call me any time, I don't follow regular sleeping schedules, so chances are good that you'll reach me, no matter what time of the day."

Tony closed the short distance between them when Loki stood up, and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

"Had to make sure that you'll remember that I really want this, all of it, even the jealous and possessive sex. I'm going to think of you every time I can feel or see the bruises you left on me." Tony let go of Loki's coat and took a step back.

"I will try not to forget about it."

Then Loki was gone and Tony was alone in his penthouse, the only signs that he hadn't been were the second tumbler next to the armchair and the lingering aches in his body. Tonight might not have gone as planned, but at least he now knew that he wasn't the only one with a strange obsession and desire. It was good to know that Loki felt the same - and even if they still weren't sure what it was between them, it was a step in the right direction. They'd figure everything out eventually. After all Tony was a genius, and he had the feeling that Loki could more than keep up with him.


	4. some rules required

Tony's phone refused to ring. No, that wasn't true, it was ringing just as much as it usually did - but it was never the call he was waiting for. He felt slightly pathetic at how disappointed he was every time he realised that it wasn't Loki, just another business related call. But he would not call first, not after he had told Loki to call him! There wasn't a chance that he would make himself look that desperate - even if he was. But no need to let Loki know, right?

He had spent the last three days mostly in his workshop and had only made minor progress on his projects. Today he really had to finalise the adjustments to Clint's quiver - the archer had been asking about it for ages and Tony was all out of excuses why it had taken so long. With a sigh Tony put his phone aside after checking it for missed calls for the millionth time.

"JARVIS, block all calls for the next two hours, I don't need any distractions. And restrict access to the workshop except for emergencies."

"Very well, sir."

Tony poured himself another cup of coffee and began to work on the quiver. He forced all thoughts of Loki out of his mind, even if it wasn't easy. Well, probably not out of his mind, but he managed to push them far enough into the background that he actually made good progress on his work. A few hours later he was just putting the finishing touches on the quiver when the ring of his phone startled him.

"JARVIS, didn't I tell you to block all calls?" Tony grumbled. "Who's calling? I'm busy."

"You asked me to block calls for two hours, sir. That was 5 hours ago." Tony rolled his eyes at that. "I cannot identify the caller number, sir."

"Put it through." Tony was fascinated by the thought of an unidentified caller - JARVIS should be able to crack everything that could be done to hide the caller ID. He had to know who it was.

"Stark, I thought you were ignoring my call, considering how long I had to let it ring." Loki's voice rang through the workshop, sounding slightly amused.

"JARVIS, lockdown of my workshop until this call has ended." Tony ordered. He didn't need anyone to burst in while he was talking to one of their enemies. "Loki, what a surprise. How on earth did you manage to suppress your number so that not even JARVIS could tell it was you? You're using a StarkPhone after all."

Loki laughed delightedly. "I told you magic could do a lot of things. And it seems to get along surprisingly well with your technology."

"Fuck!" Tony's fingers were flying over a keyboard. "I have to know how you're doing this, there must be a way around it." He tried to hack himself into Loki's phone, with no success. "How can you hack a phone with magic?"

"I could explain, but I doubt you would understand since you lack all knowledge of magic." Loki sounded smug. "I on the other hand have a rather good understanding of your science and technology, and I am learning more about it every day."

"Yeah, yeah, you're better and cleverer, got it." Tony murmured absentmindedly. "But only until I find a way around it, and believe me, I will." His fingers were still flying over the keyboard and he stared at the numbers and letters running over a holographic screen in front of him. "Why did you call? Probably not just to show off."

"You seem to know me so well," Loki chuckled, "of course did I want to 'show off' as you call it. But I wanted to talk to you about something as well." His voice was more serious now. "Can we meet? I think we should have a few rules about how we are supposed to handle this rather unique situation to avoid any further misunderstandings." Loki hesitated for a second, then continued. "And as useful as your technology is, I would prefer to have that conversation in person."

"You're right." Tony had stopped his frantic typing. "That's not something I want to discuss over the phone." He glanced at the screen and suddenly noticed a pattern, then began typing again. "Where and when do you want to meet?"

"Will you disable your alarms? Then I can join you at your penthouse tonight." Loki seemed to be slightly hesitant, or was Tony imagining that?

"Give me at least another hour or two, I really have to finish what I'm working on or Clint's going to use me for target practice." Tony checked the time, it was almost 5pm now. "How about 8pm? If you like Chinese I can order us some food. I might have skipped a few meals while I was working and should probably eat once I'm out of here." He hesitated when his brain caught up with what he had just said - he was not sure if a dinner invitation was really appropriate. Tony ran his hands through his hair before he resumed his attempt to hack Loki's magic. "And I'm going to make sure that all alarms are disabled and access to the penthouse is restricted."

"Are you certain about that? Won't your team think that something is amiss if you restrict their access to your living areas?"

"I do that all the time when I need to be alone, they won't think anything of it. And JARVIS won't give away information without my consent." Tony sighed. "You'll have to trust me on this."

"I will." Loki sounded very serious for a moment, then continued in a lighter tone: "I am rather fond of Chinese food, so feel free to order something for me as well. But keep in mind that I do not share Thor's appetite."

"Noted." Tony grinned, only partly because of their conversation. He seemed to be making some progress in disabling whatever magic Loki had used to cloak his caller ID.

"Then I will see you later. I suppose I had better end this phone call before you get any further in your attempt to prove that you are smarter than I am."

The connection was cut, and Tony didn't know whether to swear because he had been that close or to laugh. Loki really was something else.

"JARVIS, save those encoding patterns and my progress in cracking them, I want to study them later."

"Do you want me to restrict access?" JARVIS inquired.

Tony hesitated for a moment. "Yes. For now keep them on my private servers, you and I are the only ones allowed to access them."

"Done, sir. Anything else?"

"Yes, let Barton know that his quiver is done, and he can pick it up here. And inform everyone that I'm not to be disturbed tonight. Just tell them that I'm not in the mood for company." Tony turned his attention back to the quiver he had been working on before Loki called and checked his alterations one last time.

"Agent Barton is on his way, sir."

"Thanks, JARVIS."

Just when Tony had decided that he was finished with his work on the quiver, the door to his workshop opened, and Clint sauntered in with a huge grin.

"I heard you have a new toy for me?" Without waiting for Tony's answer he walked up to the worktable and picked the quiver up. "Looks the same. What did you change?"

Tony explained the few changes - mostly he just had made selection of arrowheads faster and smoother and added one more compartment for a new type of arrowhead he was still working on. Clint seemed to be excited and headed off to the range to try out his new and improved toy as soon as Tony had finished his explanation.

Still over two hours until Loki would arrive; he should probably get some more work done now that he was able to concentrate.

"JARVIS, let me know when it's 7pm and make sure that I leave the workshop and take a shower." Tony looked over his worktable and selected a prototype of the new arrowhead - coated with a special metal alloy to allow them to pierce almost every type of armor. That in itself wasn't too difficult, but he wanted to make an explosive version of them. Could be useful if they ever encountered something like the Chitauri again. "Oh, and order Chinese for two, have it delivered to the penthouse at around 8pm. You know what I like, just get more of that." His mind was already mostly focussed on his work again.

It seemed to Tony as if only a few minutes had passed, but suddenly JARVIS announced: "It is 7pm, sir. You asked me to remind you to go upstairs and take a shower. Food will be delivered in an hour."

"Thanks, JARVIS." With a sigh Tony put his work away and saved all files that he had open. As much as he would have loved to keep working, he was looking forward to Loki's visit tonight. And a quick look down his body told him that he should not skip the shower; he was covered in grease and whatnot, had probably smeared it into his hair and on his face as well. With another sigh, Tony rode the elevator up to his penthouse to take a quick shower and change.

After giving it a bit of thought, Tony decided to dress in a pair of well-worn jeans and a t-shirt. No need to try and impress Loki after what had already happened between them. And in this outfit he'd feel much more comfortable during the talk that was ahead of them. He skipped shoes and socks, he was at home after all.

Food arrived on time, and almost at the same moment the strange sound that went along with Loki teleporting in was audible from the living area. "Make yourself at home," Tony shouted over his shoulder from the elevator, "I'll join you in a second." He tipped the delivery guy and carried their food in. Loki was sprawled in the same chair he had used last time.

Just when Tony had almost reached the sofa next to Loki, JARVIS announced: "Miss Romanov demands access to the penthouse. She is threatening to break in if you refuse to see her."

"Great, just what I need tonight." Tony dumped the bags with food on a little side table, then turned to Loki. "Would you mind waiting in the bedroom? If Natasha's threatening to break in, I'd better talk to her now, because if anyone can get around my security, it's her."

Loki shrugged and stood up. "Try not to take too long; who knows what I will get up to if I am bored." He smirked at Tony, then walked to the bedroom and closed the door behind himself.

"JARVIS, no mention that I'm not alone. And no mention of Loki's presence here at other times, or that he called." Tony sighed, then sat down and started to unpack his food. "Tell Natasha to come in."

The elevator opened almost soundlessly, and Natasha strode in, scanning the room. "Have you decided to stop hiding?" Direct as always.

"I'm not hiding, Natasha. But if I say that I don't want to be disturbed, I usually mean it. So why are you here?" Tony huffed out an exasperated breath, then opened a carton - spicy noodles with chicken - and began to eat.

"The others might have believed your stories about your encounters with Loki, but I lie for a living, I know you're not telling the truth - or not all of it." Natasha perched on the armrest next to Tony and looked over his food. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Actually, yes, I do mind. What is so hard to understand about 'I want to be alone tonight'?" Tony took the chopsticks Natasha had picked up out of her hand. "I'm not in the mood for company. So let's get this talk over with and then leave me alone."

"Alright." Natasha held her hands up in mock defeat. "What did Loki do to you? You've been acting strange since he captured you that first time, and it got worse after the second. You've taken a shower both times before letting anyone see you out of the suit." Natasha counted off on her fingers. "You are hiding from everyone, don't want to see us, don't join in when we watch a movie or have dinner together... So, what happened? Did he hurt you in any way?"

Tony could not look away from her. "Trust me, he didn't hurt me - or did I seem to be injured in the debriefs right afterwards? And I'm not hiding, I get like that - not only when I'm working. I'm not used to living with so many people." That was the truth, he had to remember to stick to the truth. To stall he took another bite of his food. "Especially not with people who care about me." Another truth. "I'll get out of it eventually, no need to worry." Still no lie.

"Okay, probably you really do tend to avoid people sometimes. But still, there was something off about you when you told us what had happened." Her gaze softened. "There are many ways to hurt someone, and not all of them leave visible marks." She hesitated. "Just because you're male, doesn't mean that it can't happen to you."

Huh, it wasn't like Natasha to beat around the bush, she was usually so direct. Then it dawned on Tony, and he had to laugh, genuinely amused since she couldn't be further away from the truth. "You think he raped me?" He put his food down and laid a hand on her knee. "I swear to you, he has not and hasn't tried to. And to be honest, I don't think he would do that to anyone." Tony smiled up at Natasha. "Thanks for being concerned about me, but there's no need to." He hesitated, then continued. "How does this sound to you: leave me alone tonight, and I'll join all of you for dinner and movie night tomorrow. Just let me know if you're coming up here, or if we're meeting downstairs."

Natasha gave him another searching look but seemed to be satisfied for now by what she saw. "Okay, I'll drag you out of your workshop or wherever you are hiding at 7pm tomorrow if you don't show up on your own." She stood up and walked over to the elevator, but turned around again before she reached it. "I will figure out what it is you're hiding, but I am glad it's not what I was afraid of." With that she left.

Tony slumped down in relief; he had won some time. Then his bedroom door opened, and Loki came over, making almost no noise. Tony looked up when Loki sat down in the chair again, noticing for the first time that Loki was wearing dark jeans and a black t-shirt instead of his usual armour.

"I did not realise that you cared that much about each other." Loki looked at him with a bemused expression. "It must be nice to have someone look after you when you need it. Even if I should feel insulted by her assumptions."

"Yes, it feels good," Tony agreed. "But I'm finding it can be difficult if you need to keep a secret." He shrugged, then waved at the food. "Help yourself to something to eat, I had to start already or I wouldn't have been able to convince Natasha that everything was okay with me. When there's food, I'm eating." He grinned when Loki carefully checked the contents of each container, then picked one and began to eat.

"I would guess you do not want to lie to your friends more than strictly necessary," Loki asked between careful bites. "So we should attract less attention in future." He grinned at Tony. "If you do not disappear in front of their eyes, they have no reason to ask questions. I will have to stop kidnapping you during fights, then, and do so when nobody is around to notice."

Tony laughed out. "You could just call and ask me to meet, no need to kidnap me."

"But where is the fun in that?" Loki smirked. "I might want to surprise you at some point - without finding you in bed with someone else."

"I'd appreciate if that didn't happen again, so please no surprise visits to my bedroom." Tony grinned. "Not that I plan to have too many visitors in there if you keep me entertained." He winked at Loki who grinned back.

In that manner they continued to make up some basic rules about what was acceptable and what not for this strange relationship they were in. Loki would refrain from visiting Tony unannounced - as much to avoid being caught by the other Avengers, as to avoid finding Tony with someone else. Tony would make sure that during planned visits nobody else had access to the penthouse. Loki would try to avoid causing trouble that would call up the Avengers, and if they did meet in a fight, he would try not to harm them and wouldn't steal Tony away. Tony would do his best to convince his friends that he was fine to keep them from prying. As far as sex went, everything was game unless one of them asked for it to stop.

Thanks to a lot of added banter and joking, it took them a good while to decide on those few things, and they finished the food and had a few drinks during that time. Tony wasn't drunk, far from it, but he was much more relaxed - partly due to the alcohol, partly because he just felt comfortable sitting here with Loki, sharing a meal and talking.

"So, you say anything goes?" Tony leered at Loki, then put his glass aside. "Let's test that theory." With a predatory grin he got up, took the few steps to Loki, and pulled him out of the chair into a searing kiss. Loki kissed back just as enthusiastically. Their hands moved in search of skin to touch - too many layers of clothes. Their bodies pressed greedily together, growing erections almost painfully trapped between them. Tony broke the kiss after a few minutes and pulled Loki even closer, so he could whisper into his ear: "I want you to get naked and bend over this chair so I can fuck you into next week."

Loki shuddered. "Who said I was going to let you be in charge today?" Smirking, he stepped back, and, despite his words, used his magic to remove both his and Tony's clothes. "If you want me to bend over for you, you will have to make me," he challenged.

"I can work with that." Tony's smile widened. With a deceptively casual motion he twisted Loki around and pinned his arm behind his back. "Even without the suit I know how to handle myself."

He pushed a struggling Loki forwards until they were standing behind the armchair. Oh, they both knew that Loki wasn't really fighting him, that Tony wouldn't be able to hold him if Loki used all of his strength. But it didn't matter, in the end whoever ended up in control only did so because the other one allowed him to.

"Does that magic with the lube work on you as well?" Tony pushed his hips up and rubbed his erection over Loki's arse. "I'd hate to let go of you, just to get some from the bedroom." He sunk his teeth into Loki's shoulder when he didn't answer, but instead pushed back into Tony.

"I can take care of preparing myself," Loki gritted out between clenched teeth, still pretending to struggle against Tony's hold. "But are you man enough to take advantage of that fact?" He grinned back over his shoulder.

Tony growled, then pushed Loki's upper body down and pulled his arm up behind his back to keep him bent over. "You mean like that?" He returned the grin, then ran his free hand down Loki's side, over his hip and to the front. He wrapped it around Loki's cock and began to jerk him roughly. "You're way too coherent, I want you to be speechless with need before I'm going to fuck you."

Loki moaned at that and thrust into Tony's hand as much as possible. He spread his legs and arched his back with a groan. Tony looked down and he could see Loki stretch himself - his hole was slick and slowly stretching further around... nothing. The sight took Tony's breath away.

"Fuck..." he muttered. Wait, hadn't he planned to reduce Loki to single syllables? He forced himself to take a deep, slow breath, then moved his hand. He just had to know if he could feel the magic that was currently stretching Loki for him, making him moan and gasp. Yes, there was something solid, but invisible, pushing in and out of Loki, just like it had done with Tony before. Forget about taking his time, he had to have Loki now.

"I hope you're ready, seeing you like that is making me impatient." He rubbed his erection against Loki's backside for emphasis and suddenly felt the magic vanish.

Loki almost whined at the loss and pushed back into him. "Get on with it, Stark!"

"Tsk, such a pushy bottom." Tony grinned, but didn't tease either of them any longer.

They both moaned when Tony pushed into Loki, slowly, but not stopping until he was pressed up against Loki's body. Then he stilled. His fingertips dug hard into Loki's wrist and hip while he tried to calm himself; he didn't want this to be over too soon. A distant part of Tony wondered if he would leave bruises, did Loki even bruise? Loki shifted beneath him, making Tony gasp and all conscious thought vanished. All that mattered was the tight heat around his cock, the beautiful sight of Loki bent over the back of the armchair, the desperate sounds they were both making when Tony began to thrust.

Loki's fingers dug into the chair, the hand still held by Tony balled into a fist and he started to gasp out, "Yes... Tony... more..." mixed in with words in a language Tony didn't understand but that were obviously pleas and encouragement.

Tony sped up his thrusts, overwhelmed by the sight of Loki writhing underneath him as much as possible in his position, covered in sweat - by the fact that Loki would allow him to pin him down, to fuck him.

"Not going to last," he gasped out, way too soon. He forced his hand to release the hold on Loki's hip - yes, he could bruise - wanting to touch Loki's cock, take him over the edge with him. But before he could even close his hand around Loki, he felt him tense up around him, saw shivers running through his body, and Loki came with a hoarse almost-cry.

That was all it took to push Tony over the edge too; he gave a few more erratic thrusts and then spilled inside of Loki. He slumped on top of the god - he had just fucked a god - not trusting his legs to support him. Slowly he released his hold on Loki's wrist.

"Wow, that was..." he mouthed against Loki's shoulder.

"Amazing," Loki continued for him. "But this is becoming uncomfortable, we should move."

"Only if you promise not to run again." Despite his words, Tony pushed himself upright and let his now soft cock slip out of Loki.

"I do not have to run anymore to hide my emotions from you." Loki pushed himself up and stretched languidly to remove any kinks from being bent over.

"Shower?" Tony asked. "Not that I mind your magic cleaning trick..." His voice trailed off, he still wasn't sure what the rules were here and didn't want to scare Loki away.

"I would like that." Loki smiled at him, then pulled him into a long, slow kiss.

They stood like that for a while, until Tony stepped back and took Loki's hand. "Follow me, then." He pulled Loki with him, through the bedroom and into his huge bathroom.

Loki raised an eyebrow at the sight of the oversized tub and huge shower stall, but didn't say anything.

"What can I say, I like to be prepared for all eventualities." Tony grinned, then let go of Loki's hand. "It's no fun taking a shower together when you bump into the walls or fixtures all the time." He stepped into the shower stall and held the glass door open. "Now, are you joining me or are you just going to look?"

Loki laughed, then he was right there with Tony, startling him again with his speed. "Touching is so much more interesting than looking," he mouthed against Tony's neck before nibbling on it.

"I have to agree with you." Tony let his hands wander over Loki's back. "But this shower would be much more effective if we turned the water on."

Loki laughed again, but stepped back for a moment until Tony had adjusted the water. Then they were touching and kissing again, lathering each other with sandalwood-scented soap, using it as an excuse to let their hands wander over as much skin as possible, to explore the other's body completely for the first time.

There were dark bruises already forming on Loki's hip and around his wrist, standing out against his pale skin. He hissed when Tony touched them, but pulled Tony's hands back when he tried to move away. He arched his back like a cat when Tony stroked it and pressed the heels of his hands into the muscles.

Loki's fingers found the scars on Tony's chest, traced them to the arc reactor. He locked gazes with Tony when he touched it and Tony flinched. "Does it hurt?"

"Not any more." Tony swallowed. "But most people don't like to look at it, it disgusts them to see a piece of technology embedded in my chest." He looked down. "And even worse, they pity me."

Loki pushed Tony's chin up with one long finger and looked into his eyes again. "Why would they be anything but amazed by your genius?" He shook his head in disbelief. "No need to pity you for finding a way to save your own life." He looked down at the arc reactor again and touched the scars surrounding it; Tony's gaze followed his. "And scars are proof of the battles you have fought - and survived. They are something to be proud of. Only a fool would be disgusted by them."

He sounded so hurt on Tony's behalf, Tony couldn't help but believe him - and for the first time since Afghanistan he didn't mind at all that someone was touching his chest.

"Without this you would not be Iron Man," Loki continued, hands still mapping every bit of Tony's chest. "Your enemies tried to kill you, and you did not only survive, you made yourself stronger, gave yourself the means to defeat them."

Tony shuddered, not sure if it was caused by Loki's words or his touch - or both. And he didn't care, it felt too good to finally be with someone who didn't mind that his body was mutilated, who seemed to admire him for what he had done.

They didn't need any more words after that, just took their time to touch and explore under the spray of water, until they were both warm and relaxed. Tony turned off the water and stepped out of the shower first, wrapped himself into a huge, fluffy towel and handed one to Loki. They dried off in comfortable silence, only interrupted when Tony couldn't suppress a yawn.

"Guess I should get some sleep while I can." Tony yawned again. "Sorry, but I sometimes can't sleep at all and when I finally am able to relax, I crash hard."

Loki just smiled and led him out of the bathroom, towards his bed. "Then sleep. I will clean up all traces of my visit from the living room before I leave." He gently pushed Tony onto the bed and urged him to lie down.

"I can do that." Tony tried to get up again, he couldn't let Loki, his guest, clean up their mess.

"Stop thinking so much, it is in my own interest not to draw any more attention than we already have." Loki summoned his clothes back onto his body and turned to leave the bedroom. In the door he stopped for a moment and looked back over his shoulder. "Sleep well, Tony." A small gesture of his hands was the last thing Tony saw, before sleep overwhelmed him.

Tony woke up the next day well rested and more relaxed than he had been in ages. Some part of him was annoyed that Loki seemed to have used magic to make him fall asleep, but he couldn't really mind when it had helped him to get a full night's sleep, uninterrupted by nightmares. He stretched slowly and decided to take his time before starting his day, before meeting reality.


	5. In the light of day

As promised, Tony joined the rest of the team for dinner and movie night, they seemed all to be glad to see him outside of a mission for a change. Nothing was said about him hermiting himself away, though - they just enjoyed an evening together. It was almost like a big family that should be dysfunctional, considering their different personalities, but somehow they complemented each other instead of clashing too much.

It was late by the time they went their separate ways - most of them to bed, Tony into his workshop: he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep yet. Could just as well continue to work on one of the gazillion projects he had. He didn't have to fear that he would ever run out of things to do. His mind kept coming up with more ideas than he could possible work through in a lifetime or two.

Tony was buried elbow deep in the mechanical parts of a robot when his phone rang, barely audible over the loud music. "JARVIS, who is it?"

"Unidentified number again, sir." JARVIS sounded annoyed that someone had managed to work around his ability to identify every caller.

"Music off, give me a holographic keyboard and screen, retrieve the data from my last attempt to hack Loki's phone, then put the call on speaker." Tony scrambled away from the robot and stood up from his crouched position on the floor. His fingers immediately began to fly over the keyboard that seemed to float in mid-air. "Hello Loki, to what do I owe the pleasure of this late night call?"

"How could you possibly know it was me, when I put so much effort into disguising my identity," Loki laughed. "Just so you know, I have changed the enchantment on my phone, your efforts from yesterday won't be of any use to you today."

"Bastard." Tony muttered, the data on his screen confirming Loki's words.

Another laugh. "You just notice that now?"

"No, but it had to be said." Tony couldn't help but laugh with Loki, while he redoubled his efforts to find a way around Loki's magic.

"There is actually a good reason why I am calling. You had better get some sleep tonight." Loki hesitated for a moment. "An old associate of mine, Roberto van Tarquinius, plans to attack people somewhere in Central Park tomorrow, he has mechanical and superhuman help - and came to me for magical assistance. I pretended to agree, but I do not like his plans at all - they involve too much killing for no good reason."

"Wait, Roberto van Tarquinius? What kind of stupid name is that?"

Loki chuckled. "You will have to ask him, but I agree, it does sound ridiculous."

"Well, I can always call him Bob, still ridiculous, but I bet he'd hate it"

"He would, he is very proud and insists on being called by his full name." Loki agreed. "Unfortunately he is extremely ruthless and does not mind killing innocent people - he actually prefers it over a fair fight. That is why he hired me and some men with superhuman strength, to fight off any attacks from you or other intervening forces."

"Fuck," Tony swore, not bothering with any attempts at hacking any more, but writing down everything Loki was telling him. "When and where exactly does he plan to attack?"

"I am supposed to join him at 10am at the Beethoven statue."

"Good, we'll be there... How much trouble is he going to be?"

"A lot. He has several people working with him. It will take all your combined efforts to subdue them. And he has some kind of mechanical creatures that are supposed to attack and kill people at the park, I do not know about their nature." Loki sounded concerned. "I will be at the meeting point, but I will not join the fight..." He hesitated. "At least not on his side, it is possible that I can take some of his allies out of the equation with my magic. I don't want you or your friends to be seriously harmed by this self-acclaimed super villain."

"Thank you," Tony sighed, "but make sure you are safe too, I don't want you to end up in the middle of this and fighting against both sides."

"I can always disappear if the situation becomes too dangerous for me."

"I know." Tony smiled, even though he knew that Loki couldn't see him. "Now, can you give me more details on what we're up against?"

Loki began to describe as best as he could who they would have to fight, what kind of technology would be involved, and Tony wrote all of it down. Then there was nothing much left to say.

"Be careful tomorrow," Tony said. "I want to see you again in one piece."

"The same goes for you, Tony."

"I'll try my best, but I have a team to back me up - you don't. Speaking of which, I should let them know of this threat - I will claim that I received an anonymous call." Tony sighed. "At least it's not a blatant lie."

"Until tomorrow then, remember to get some rest." Loki's voice was soft and concerned, but before Tony could reply he had ended the call.

Tony swore silently, then left the workshop to go back to the communal living area. "JARVIS, ask everyone to meet me here immediately, wake them up if necessary."

One by one they came back, giving him curious looks - but he just told them to sit down until they had all arrived. This would be complicated enough; he didn't want to tell everything more than once.

"So, what's going on, Tony?" Clint was the first to speak.

"I just received a phone call, anonymous," he raised his hand when they tried to interrupt him, "and it seems there will be hell going down in Central Park tomorrow. I believe the information, it's too detailed to be made up, and we should prepare as best we can. Because if it is true, we have a hell of a fight ahead of us." He filled them in on all the details he had, and they went quiet.

"Shit." Clint swore under his breath, again the first to break the silence. "At least there doesn't seem to be magic involved."

They argued for a while about whether to believe the information, tried to find out who Tony's anonymous caller was, and began to make plans.

"I will come up with a plan and brief you all in the morning," Steve spoke quietly over them all after a while. "I don't need as much sleep as you, and we all should be rested before we go into a fight like this. Go to bed, everyone - yes, even you, Tony." His tone didn't leave room for argument.

"He is right," Natasha chimed in. "If we want to contain this situation with minimal collateral damage, we should be in top form." She stood up and left.

As if her departure had been a signal, they all filed out, into their bedrooms presumably. Only Tony and Steve were left.

"Will you tell me who informed you about this?" Steve inquired. "Because I'm sure there is no such thing as an anonymous call for you or JARVIS."

"I promised not to." Tony couldn't meet Steve's eyes. "But I believe him, and that has to be enough for now."

Steve sighed. "Okay. I will trust you on this." He paused for a moment. "I just wish you had learned by now that you can trust us as well. Now get some sleep if you can; we need you tomorrow."

"Thanks, Steve." Tony hoped that Steve could hear the sincerity in his voice, but he had already turned around and was on his way to the elevator. He hated to lie to his friends and right now he couldn't look Steve in the eye. Tony wanted to trust him, trust all of them, but he just couldn't imagine that they would understand if he told them the truth.

For most of what was left of the night, Tony tossed and turned, unable to stop thinking, to stop worrying. It wasn't the fight the next day that kept him awake, he had been Iron Man for long enough to not let impending doom keep him from necessary rest. No, he was worried about Loki, wondered if he would be able to keep himself safe with enemies on both sides of the fight. Finally Tony fell into a restless slumber, woken way too early by JARVIS announcing that Captain Rogers was waiting for him and the other Avengers in the communal living room to plan the fight.

They decided that Clint and Natasha would leave first, hopefully early enough to arrive before their opponents did. Clint was to find a good vantage point with his bow, and they should alert the rest of them as soon as anything suspicious was happening. Bruce would stay nearby, but out of harm's way unless they really needed the Hulk to help them out. There was too much danger that innocent bystanders would get hurt. Thor, Tony and Steve were their physically strongest fighters and should deal with the superhuman/mutant/whatever goons, Natasha and Clint keeping everything else off their back. So far, so good - but usually villains didn't fight fair or follow their plans.

At first, everything went as planned. Clint and Natasha got into position without problems.

"Guys, incoming." Clint's voice came over the comm. "Four huge brutes with big crates, a shorter one in a black suit and a tall one... that's Loki! Dammit, they have magic as well!"

"Keep an eye on them, we're on the way," Steve answered, then turned to Tony. "Get me there, will be faster than running."

Tony nodded, closed his faceplate, put one arm around Steve's waist and took off towards Central Park. Thor was flying right next to him. They landed a little bit away from where the villains du jour were meeting.

"Hawkeye, sitrep." Steve was in full Captain America mode again, taking charge of the situation.

"Nothing much happened yet. They put the crates down next to the statue, and the goons are keeping their distance from them. Whatever is in there, I doubt it is pleasant." Clint paused for a moment. "The short guy and Loki seem to be arguing about something, but I can't hear them."

"Hold your position, we're almost there."

They hurried towards Clint's position, Natasha stepped out of the shadows when they were close and joined them.

"Shit, there are fucking bugs, dozens of them, they just came out of one of the crates. The beasts are huge." Clint sounded worried. "We have to contain them, they're running off in all directions, no idea what they will do to people."

Tony took off from the ground to get a better view - Clint had been right, there were a lot of half mechanic, half organic looking creatures scurrying away from the crates. They looked like cat-sized bugs straight out of a steampunk film. Loki who still seemed to be arguing with the shorter man - must be Bob - suddenly looked up at Tony, then around. He took a step back and Tony saw magic coming from his hands, knocking the shorter man out.

"Tony, I will create a barrier to keep those monstrous creatures contained, is anyone of your team further away than Hawkeye?" Loki's voice seemed to sound right in Tony's head. He was so startled that he almost dropped to the ground, but caught himself just in time.

"No, we're all closer to you," he answered out loud.

"Tony, who are you talking to?" Steve inquired.

Then the goons had spotted them and began to attack, and everything went so fast that Tony didn't have time to answer, he barely could keep track of what was happening. Loki crouched behind the statue and did some kind of long and complicated spell. Thor and Steve were fighting the thugs attacking them, Natasha and Clint shot one bug after another, and Tony stepped in wherever he was needed.

Suddenly Loki appeared behind Thor, who had just knocked down one of their attackers with Mjolnir, touched his ears and then disappeared again. Thor didn't seem to be harmed or worried, just threw himself back into the battle.

"What the fuck was that?" Tony heard Clint over the comm.

"I have decided to join the fight on your side, Hawkeye." Loki's voice, over the comm this time. "I thought it prudent to be able to communicate with you so we would not get into each other's way."

"Brother," Thor boomed, "it is good to fight at your side again."

"And we're supposed to trust you why?" Clint again.

"Stop arguing everyone." Steve ordered. "In case you didn't notice, we still have a fight at hand. Another one of the crates seems to have opened, and there are more of the bugs now."

"I have created a barrier around us, nobody can get through either way, that should contain those creatures so they cannot harm innocent people," Loki informed them. "Hawkeye, in case I was too late and you spot a target across the barrier - it will not stop arrows, you can shoot right through it. You should be able to see where it is as a slight shimmer in the air."

"What about Bob?" Tony wanted to know.

"He will not wake up for several hours." Loki sounded amused

All throughout this exchange they kept fighting, and soon all communication stopped except for orders to step away or warnings for someone to watch their back. The crates seemed to have some kind of time lock, because they opened one after another to release more of the bug creatures. The bugs were surprisingly hard to kill, and so were the goons. Whatever they were, they were at least as strong as Thor and Steve and could take a lot of damage without being slowed down. So even if they had fought harder fights, it took them a long time to clear the area of every threat.

"If I am supposed to keep the barrier up, I will have to retreat to a more secure location." Loki's voice sounded tired over the comms and Tony spared a moment to look at him. He seemed to be exhausted, moved much more slowly and with less grace than usual.

"Need me to help you on a tree?" Tony asked.

"That would be most helpful. To hold this spell in place for such a long time is beginning to tire me."

Tony didn't waste any time, just swooped down, grabbed Loki around the waist and flew up with him again. He found a tree nearby with a huge branch where Loki would not be in danger of falling down and deposited him there. He could have taken him to Clint, but he wasn't sure how well their truce would hold up if they were that close to each other.

"Thank you." Loki slumped against the tree trunk and closed his eyes.

Tony just nodded at him, then joined his friends again in their attempt to kill more of those obnoxious crawling creatures.

Finally nothing but them was moving in the area enclosed by Loki's spell, all bugs were dead and their other opponents were unconscious or tied up. Tony barely waited for Steve's 'all clear' before he turned his attention back to Loki. Loki looked as if he hadn't slept in days, but somehow still held on to the tree, eyes closed.

"Drop the spell, we're done here." Tony said after he had reached Loki and opened his faceplate. He wasn't sure if the communication magic was still working and didn't want to waste time trying.

Loki sighed, then visibly relaxed. Clint's voice over the comm confirmed that the barrier had vanished, so Tony picked Loki up and flew him down.

"My brother needs to rest after using so much of his magic," Thor rushed him as soon as they had landed. "Allow me to take him to the tower."

"Don't worry, Thor. I've got him." Tony replied, unwilling to let go of Loki, even if he knew he would be safe with Thor. "Let's meet at the penthouse, I will take him there and make sure he gets some sleep and whatever else he needs." Tony's eyes met Thor's, hoping to convince him that his brother would be in no danger.

Thor held his gaze for a few long moments, then nodded and stepped back. Tony didn't care about the protests from everyone else that came over his comm - that he shouldn't take an enemy to his home, that Loki was dangerous.

"Leave him be!" Steve ordered. "Loki has fought on our side today, he doesn't deserve to be left on his own when he is not able to defend himself any more. I might not trust Loki, but I trust Tony to keep himself safe." After that there was only some muttering and bickering about having to clean up audible.

Soon Tony arrived at the Tower and realized he would have to put Loki down before he could get out of the suit. He ordered Jarvis to open the doors at the landing pad for him, walked around the extraction unit and carried Loki in. He carefully laid him down on the bed and was rewarded with a tired smile.

"I am no damsel in distress that you have to take care of, Tony." Loki tried to push himself up.

Tony opened his faceplate again and smiled down at him. "No, you're not. But can't I take care of an ally after battle?"

Loki smiled back and let himself drop back down on the bed. "Perhaps we can make an exception today. I am way too tired to fight with you."

"Good, I'm just going to get rid of the suit, I'll be back in a minute."

Tony hurried out again. As soon as he was out of the suit, he went back - to find Loki already asleep. He smiled again, then decided to strip Loki at least out of his armour to let him rest more comfortably. Careful not to wake him, Tony removed Loki's helmet, boots and coat - and after a moment's hesitation his leather trousers as well. Loki just mumbled in his sleep, but otherwise did not react - a clear sign of how deeply exhausted he was.

Tony spared one last glance at the sleeping god in his bed, then stripped out of his undersuit and headed for the shower.

"JARVIS, let me know when the others arrive." He thought for a moment. "Allow them access to the penthouse, but not to my bedroom." Better not to take any chances; he didn't know for sure how they would want to treat Loki.

"Sir, Doctor Banner is already on his way up."

"Let him know that I'll join him in a minute. I need a shower first."

With that, Tony stepped into the shower, quickly washed off the sweat from the fight. He regretted that he could not linger and enjoy the hot water on his sore muscles, but with a sigh he turned the water off and dried himself. He slipped into a pair of sweatpants, grabbed a random t-shirt and went to meet Bruce and the rest of the team.

"Why did you bring Loki here?" Bruce asked as soon as Tony stepped out of the bedroom, he had obviously been waiting for him next to the door.

Tony carefully closed the bedroom door, then turned to Bruce. "Because he helped us and in doing so exhausted himself to the point where he could barely stand on his own feet." With that he walked past Bruce to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water and then slumped into a corner of a sofa in the living area.

"JARVIS, keep access to my bedroom restricted, but allow Loki to leave whenever he wants to. Inform me when he wakes up."

"Yes, sir."

"Tony." Bruce had joined him in the living area and sat down in a chair - the one Loki preferred, Tony couldn't help but notice. "Do your really think it is wise to have Loki here? We should at least lock him up."

"And keep him from teleporting out how?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

Bruce shrugged at that. Then the rest of the team arrived and the whole conversation repeated itself only that Steve reasoned that if Loki wanted to harm them, it would have been easier for him to do so during their battle. When Thor wanted to check up on his brother, Tony lead him into the bedroom with a warning not to disturb Loki.

After a while they all settled, tired and hungry. Someone ordered pizza and Tony heaved himself off the sofa to get Thor to join them. When he entered the bedroom he found Loki awake in bed, Thor sitting next to him on the edge of the mattress, talking quietly.

"Already awake, sleepyhead?" Tony asked affectionately, which earned him a curious look from Thor.

"I need food before I can rest any further." Loki smiled up at him.

"Then join us." Tony turned his attention to Thor. "I just came in to call you, we've got pizza."

Thor glanced once again from Tony to his brother, then stood up. "Give me a moment with my brother, Anthony."

Tony shrugged. "Of course." With a last glance at Loki he left them.

A few minutes later the bedroom door opened and Loki slowly walked out, dressed just in his tunic and a pair of boxers. He stopped before he reached them, looked at everyone in turn. Nobody said anything, they all just stared at him - he looked very young and vulnerable with his sleep mussed hair and in this outfit, as Tony noticed. When Loki's eyes met Tony's, he smiled slightly and curled up in the empty place next to Tony. Still nobody said a word, not even Thor who took the last empty seat on another sofa next to Clint and Natasha.

Tony rolled his eyes, grabbed one of the pizza cartons and held it out for Loki. "Since everyone seems to be paralyzed by your presence - pizza?" He couldn't help but grin.

Loki grinned back, then helped himself to food and one of the water bottles that were standing on a table.

That seemed to break the spell and everyone began to eat again. The conversation still was subdued, barely existent, everyone kept stealing glances at Loki who seemed undisturbed by it and kept eating.

"Why did you help us today." Bruce finally broke the silence.

"Because there is no point in randomly murdering innocent people," Loki replied after swallowing a bite of his pizza. "I have had my share of mindless destruction, I do not need a repeat of it."

"So it was you who warned us?" Steve interjected.

"Yes, I did not want this plan to succeed and knew I would not be able to stop it on my own." Loki curled deeper into the corner, tucking his feet under Tony's legs. Tony unconsciously shifted to allow Loki to stretch out more and placed a hand on his leg without thinking.

Natasha stared at them, then was out of her seat in a heartbeat. She grabbed Loki's shirt and almost pulled him off the sofa. "What have you done to Tony?"

"Natasha, calm down!" Tony jumped up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "He's done nothing to me, let go of him."

Dead silence fell.

Then everyone began to talk at once.

"Leave my brother alone!" Thor yelled.

"Don't tell me you're fucking Loki." Clint sounded disgusted and angry.

"Oh no..." Bruce, realization dawning.

"What?" Steve, then catching up: "Tony! Is that true?"

The only one who didn't say anything, didn't even move was Loki.

"Calm the fuck down, everyone!" Tony shouted and stared them down, one after another.

They stared back at him as if he had sprouted a second head, but Tony didn't care. He just kept glaring at them until everyone had settled again. Even Natasha released her hold on Loki's shirt but stayed close. Tony stepped in between her and Loki. He was thinking furiously, glad that he didn't have to lie any more, afraid that they would try to harm Loki.

"Let's just sit down, everyone." Tony glared at Natasha. "I had enough fighting for one day."

Natasha glared back, but after a moment turned around and sat back down.

"Great." Tony sat down as well and made a point of pulling Loki's feet on his lap which caused Steve to gasp. "Yes, I'm fucking Loki as Clint so eloquently put it. And no, he didn't use any magic on me, if that's what you are thinking."

"But he is our enemy." Steve reasoned, still looking shocked.

"Is he? Didn't look like it today." Tony retorted.

They began to argue with him - Steve still incredulous that Tony would fraternize with the enemy, Natasha angry mostly on Clint's behalf, Clint storming off in a huff mumbling something like 'I'd better leave before I do something I'll regret', Bruce mostly quiet and trying to calm them down, Thor defending his brother. And Loki just sat there, looking from one to the other, not saying a word. When Thor seemed about ready to throttle Natasha for threatening his brother Loki shifted into a more upright sitting position and spoke for the first time.

"Thor, I do not need you to defend me. Calm down." He turned to Tony, then shifted his gaze to each of them in turn when he address them. "Captain Rogers, Doctor Banner, Miss Romanov, I appreciate your concern for Tony's wellbeing, but I have no intention of harming him or anyone else in this room." He raised a hand to stop Natasha from interrupting him, which, to Tony's surprise, worked. "And I understand that despite my actions today you are not ready to forgive my actions from the past." His eyes stayed on Natasha now. "You might not be willing to believe me, but I truly regret that I lead the Chitauri here and what I did during that time, I was not quite myself then. Since then, as you might have noticed, I have avoided harming people and only fought when I had to. I won't claim to be innocent, because that would be way too blatant a lie, there is a reason why I am called the God of Mischief. But mischief is not the same as destruction." He hesitated for a moment, glanced at Tony, then looked back at Natasha. "All I am asking for is that you will not judge Tony for what is happening between us - and that you should try to judge me not for my past but for the present. After all I am not the only person in this room who has red in their ledger."

Natasha took a deep breath at that last sentence, then turned around and left without a word.

"As long as you don't ask me to be friendly with you, I won't try to harm you. Just don't try my patience - and stay away from Clint. I am not sure what he will do if he unexpectedly runs into you." Bruce spoke up. "And I'm sure you still remember what happens when I get angry." For the first time Bruce showed that he was not as calm as he seemed, but Tony was sure he had it under control.

"I will not forget about it." Loki gave Bruce an appraising look. "Of course that means I will not underestimate you in case I have to fight you again. Though I will try not to give you any reason for a fight."

Bruce nodded at that and left as well after a concerned glance in Tony's direction. Tony had to talk to him soon; he didn't want to let this damage their friendship.

Steve was the next to speak, but he addressed Tony. "I can't say I understand what you are doing with him and why." He took a deep breath. "But there is some truth in what he said to Natasha, Loki is not the only one with a less than stellar past. And he has fought on our side today - in public. Which probably doesn't endear him to our enemies." He looked at Loki now. "So unless you give me a reason to the contrary, I will believe that you are not our enemy any more. Just don't expect me to trust you, that is something that has to be earned."

"That is all I am asking for, I do not want to watch my back all the time." Loki paused. "And I do not wish for Tony to lose his friends over this."

"I don't think he will. We might not all be ready to accept your presence and come to a truce with you, but we won't abandon Tony over it. We all care about each other - and that means we all care about Tony as well." He turned his attention back to Tony. "I will leave you alone now, I need some time to digest this and the fact that you have been lying to us."

That left only Tony, Loki and Thor, sitting in somewhat awkward silence. Tony wondered what Thor would have to say, if despite Steve's assurance he would lose some of his friends over this. When he couldn't stand the silence any more, he stood up and walked over to the bar.

"Before I can deal with any more of this, I need a drink." He turned back to the other two. "You want something as well?" They both shook their heads, so he just poured himself a Scotch, put the bottle back, hesitated and then took both the bottle and his glass over to the sofa. "So, big guy, what do you have to say about this?" Tony tried to judge Thor's mood. "I'd like to get this over with and then get some rest, this whole discussion has been more exhausting than the fight."

When he sat down, Loki curled up against him, seemingly unconcerned about what his brother would think or say.

"I have already told my brother earlier, I wish for him to be happy. And I wish the same for you, Anthony." Thor was surprisingly quiet. "When you insisted on not handing Loki to me after the fight, but to take him to the tower yourself I could see your affection for him. As he seems to have similar feelings for you, why should I try to stand in your way?"

Tony finally allowed himself to relax again and leaned into Loki, who smiled up at him. "Thor is very loyal to his friends and his family, did you expect him to fight you?"

"To be honest, I did not know what to expect." Tony smiled back at Loki, then turned to Thor. "Thank you, I really don't think I could have handled more fighting today. I hate to argue with my friends - but I hated more that I had to lie to all of you." He rubbed his hands over his face. "But their reaction today showed perfectly well why I did."

"Allow them to sleep over it," Loki advised. "Then talk to them, one by one. I am sure they will forgive you for hiding this from them."

"They will." Thor seemed to be certain of it. "Though some of them might need some time to accept Loki's presence here - or anywhere near them."

Tony sighed wearily. "I know. There was a reason why I chose to lie after all."

He leaned back into the sofa and put an arm around Loki, there really wasn't much more to be said. Thor began to talk to Loki in a language Tony didn't understand, but Loki stayed relaxed and curled up against him, so he didn't care what it was about. He must have dozed off, the lack of sleep and exhaustion from the fight catching up with him, because he was gently woken up by Loki's hand on his shoulder.

"Thor has left, we should go to bed and sleep." Loki sounded half asleep as well.

"Yeah," Tony mumbled, "y'know the way. I'll join you in a second." He forced his eyes to open all the way and was met with an amused smile from Loki who held out a hand to help him up.

They shuffled into the bedroom and after a quick trip to the bathroom just fell into bed, curled up next to each other.

"We should discuss this," Tony murmured, almost asleep.

"Tomorrow," Loki whispered back and kissed him gently. "Now we have to sleep."

He was right, tomorrow would be time enough. For now Tony enjoyed that he didn't have to sleep alone, that Loki's warm body was next to him. He smiled into the pillow, then drifted off into sleep.


	6. The morning after

Tony woke up the next morning with a warm body right next to him in bed. Before his brain had caught up properly, he had already snuggled closer, seeking skin contact. When he wrapped his arms around a slim body and pulled him close, he suddenly remembered: Loki was in his bed, the team had found out about them yesterday, they were all mad at him. He sighed, tension crept back into his body.

"Stop worrying until I am fully awake," Loki mumbled, sounding slightly sleepy, then turned around and caught Tony's lips in a soft and unhurried kiss.

With Loki's body pressed against his like that, Tony relaxed again and returned the kiss just as gently. Loki was right, there was enough time to worry later, for now they should enjoy the fact that they were waking up together.

Soon their hands began to wander, gentle and playful for a change, as if they had all the time in the world. Soft kisses along the neck, tongue licking and playing with a hardening nipple, tasting, feeling, exploring. Their bodies moved in time, lazily rubbing against each other, slowly stroking their desire and lust. Still they were in no hurry, Tony savoured each moan and gasp his touches coaxed out of Loki, who seemed to do the same.

After what seemed like an eternity, Loki rolled on top of Tony and began to purposefully rub their cocks together. Tony threw his head back and gasped, just to be gently bitten right over his collarbone. Then Loki's hand wound its way between their bodies, and both gasped at the pressure when it wrapped around both of their erections. Their movements sped up at the same time, going from lazy to demanding to desperate for release. Tony looked up at Loki; their gazes locked and they both thrust even faster into Loki's hand.

"God, Loki..."

"Tony!"

Both gasped out at the same time when Tony felt wet heat spread over his stomach, felt Loki's cock twitch against his own, felt Loki tense above him and go still. His own orgasm seemed to double in intensity at that, he had to close his eyes as wave after wave of pleasure ran through his body.

Loki slumped back onto the bed and pulled Tony close, both not caring at all about the stickiness between them. They lay like that for a while, until their breath had evened out and the last of the aftershocks had stopped.

"Hmmm, that's a nice way to wake up." Tony nuzzled his way under Loki's neck.

"I agree, but we probably should clean up soon, I did not get a chance to do so yesterday after the battle." Loki's voice was unusually soft and quiet.

"Shower? Together?" Tony didn't want to end their time together just yet, wasn't quite ready to face the world outside of his bedroom. He tensed again when he thought about how his friends might react to find Loki still here, then decided he'd find out soon enough. He would not send Loki away just to avoid a confrontation, he'd never been one to run away from problems. Stubborn could as well be his second name.

"Good idea," Loki agreed, then his stomach grumbled. "And breakfast would be nice. I always require a lot of food, as well as rest, after I used that much magic."

Tony smiled at that. "Then get out of bed, sleepyhead." He threw the blankets off and stood up, then walked over to the bathroom without turning back. He could hear Loki move on the bed, followed by the sound of bare feet on the floor.

This time their shower wasn't as long as the last one, but they still did wash each other, took every opportunity to touch. They examined every bruise and scratch on the other's body; Tony had a lot more of them than Loki, despite his armour. When they were clean and satisfied that the other wasn't really hurt, they stepped out of the shower and wrapped into towels. After they had dried themselves, Tony went to his closet then turned back to Loki.

"Do you need anything clean to wear? I'm sure I can find something for you or I'll have someone go and buy things that will fit you." He glanced skeptically at Loki's armour and leather trousers.

Loki wrinkled his nose. "This shower would have been a waste if I dressed in those again." He hesitated. "Clean underwear and a shirt will do for now until I teleport home. I do not intend to be seen on the streets."

Tony smiled at the mental image of Loki walking through New York with nothing but a pair of boxers and one of Tony's band shirts, but quickly handed both over. He had chosen a shirt that was slightly too big for him, but that he couldn't quite part with. Then he quickly dressed himself before turning around again. Loki looked so different in those clothes, despite his usual straight posture he seemed to be a lot younger and more vulnerable now.

"JARVIS, is anyone at the penthouse? Don't want any surprises this morning," Tony asked.

"No, sir. Captain Rogers was there early this morning and cleaned up yesterday's leftovers. But Doctor Banner has asked to be informed when you are awake. He wants to talk to you."

Relieved that they would have a little bit more time without a confrontation, Tony made his way to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee.

"Open a line to Bruce, I'm going to talk to him myself."

"Yes, sir."

Tony looked into the fridge: not much in there for breakfast, if you didn't count cold pizza. With a sigh he closed it again. Loki was sitting at the breakfast bar, watching him.

"Tony, how are you?" Bruce voice sounded through the kitchen.

"Hey, Bruce. I'm fine, just had no coffee yet. But you wanted to talk to me, what's up?" Tony still tried to locate some breakfast food, with not much success.

"What could I possibly want to discuss?" Tony could hear the eyeroll. "Can I come up?"

Tony looked at Loki, who shrugged. "Sure, if you don't mind that Loki's still here. We were just about to have breakfast, you want me to order some for you too?" Tony had given up on finding anything suitable in his kitchen.

A sigh, then Bruce answered: "Okay, I'll be up in a few minutes, just have to check that nothing here will explode while I'm away." Tony heard him move things in the lab. "And yes, breakfast would probably be a good idea, don't forget my tea."

Now it was Tony's turn to roll his eyes. "How could I forget that you don't appreciate the awesomeness of coffee?" He smiled, then filled water in the electric kettle. "Already working on your tea."

"Then I'll see you in a minute." Bruce ended their call.

Tony turned his attention back to Loki. "What do you want for breakfast? Pancakes, sandwiches, omelet, sausage, bacon?"

Loki grinned. "My stomach wants some of everything if the growling is anything to go by. I might usually not share Thor's appetite, but when I have drained myself that much I require a lot of nourishment."

Tony grinned back. "No problem, I'm used to feeding Thor and Steve. You can't possible be worse."

He told JARVIS to place a huge breakfast order, then made a pot of Bruce's favourite green tea. Plates and utensils were handed to Loki to place on the breakfast bar, Tony filled two mugs with coffee and handed one over as well. Just when he moved an empty mug and the teapot over from the counter Bruce arrived, bags from the delivery service in hand.

Bruce hesitated in the door, looked from Tony to Loki and back, then slowly walked over and placed their food on the table. As promised, there was a bit of everything and enough to feed a small army.

"I spared the delivery boy the trip up here, met him in the lobby." Bruce carefully avoided to look at Loki while he tried to find room for everything on the breakfast bar. Finally he looked up. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea, I'd better go now and talk to you later, Tony."

"Don't be stupid, it's just breakfast." Tony didn't want to let him walk away again. "We don't have to talk about anything important, that can wait. Let's just eat." He put a hand on Bruce's shoulder and smiled tentatively. "You'll just be annoyed when I have to interrupt your work again."

At that Bruce hesitantly smiled back. "You've got a point there, can just as well eat now that I've taken a break from work." He sat down on a barstool, and Tony walked around to sit next to Loki, across from Bruce.

The breakfast went better than Tony had anticipated, they were eating in silence at first. But he wouldn't be Tony Stark if he couldn't break an awkward silence, and after a while they begun to chat about a new experiment Bruce wanted to start this afternoon and Loki's ability to combine magic with technology - yes, Tony was still a bit annoyed that he hadn't yet managed to crack whatever Loki was doing to his phone. Bruce seemed to be fascinated by that as well, and soon all three of them were discussing it. Loki tried to explain some basics of magic and how it could affect technology, both of them listening with interest - even with not much understanding. When they discussed the technical aspects it was Loki's turn to listen, and to ask surprisingly good questions. He obviously hadn't been lying when he said that his understanding of science and technology was rather good. In that fashion they managed to spend over an hour, until they were all full, the coffee and tea were empty, and they had run out of conversation material.

"I will leave you alone now." Loki stood up and stretched. "I will call you later, Tony." He smirked. "You need some practice to work around my magic after all." Tony couldn't help but laugh at that. "And we have to talk as well, but it can wait for a while longer."

"You're right." Tony took a hold of Loki's shirt and pulled him down for a quick kiss. "We really need to talk. But first I have to talk to my friends, if I want them to stay my friends. I don't want to lose them over this."

Loki didn't respond to that, just turned around and walked to the bedroom. He didn't close the door, and Tony could hear him pick up his clothes and boots, then the soft noise that went with Loki's teleportation spell.

"He's gone," Tony addressed Bruce who had been listening as well.

"I know," Bruce sighed, "I just don't know where to start." He rubbed a hand over his face. "You won't lose me as a friend, not over this." His eyes met Tony's. "I just want to understand how this all happened and why you trust him so much that you decided to lie to us."

"I wish I knew the answers to that." Tony huffed out a humourless laugh. "When he took me with him that first time, when I just had latched onto his spell, things just happened. He didn't attack me when we arrived at his apartment, just disabled my suit - that much was true. What I didn't tell you was that he helped me out of the suit, told me he needed to rest before he could take me back and that I should make myself at home. It didn't feel as if we were enemies, right from the beginning." Tony ran his hands through his hair, searching for the right words. "It was nice to sit and watch TV with him, even if I was bored to death since he wouldn't talk to me and I had no tech to work on." He shrugged. "Everything else just happened."

"So that's when you've started to have sex with him?" Bruce wanted to know.

"Yeah, pretty much. The next time was when he kidnapped me from the fight with that kid and his bots. He had staged the whole thing just to get me away." Tony and Bruce both rolled their eyes at that. "Convinced him that there were better ways to get my attention, since it was pretty clear to me then that this would happen again." He grinned. "And the sex was - hell, it is - fucking amazing."

"Can you sometimes NOT think with your dick?" Bruce teased. "But this isn't just about sex, I've watched both of you yesterday and this morning."

"No, it isn't," Tony admitted, serious again. "We've had a talk shortly after that and realized that we both didn't see the other as an enemy any more." He sighed again. "He even promised not to do anything that would cause us to fight him, and he hasn't since."

"What if this is all a trick to get to us?" Bruce put a hand on Tony's when he tried to protest. "I'm not saying it is, but let's just hypothetically think about it. Loki is known as the God of Lies and Mischief after all - and I don't want you to get hurt, I am your friend."

"I appreciate your concern, but I really don't think it is." Tony tried to be objective about it. "I have seen him react with rage and jealousy when he found me in bed with someone else, that was too instantaneous to have been an act."

"He what?" Bruce stared at him.

So Tony told him about the whole debacle with Alex, when he had tried to get over his obsession with Loki - obviously without success. He made sure to put emphasis on the fact that Loki had not done anything against Tony's will, had even paused when there had been the slightest sign that Tony was not okay with it. The only thing he did not tell was how vulnerable and lonely Loki had seemed later, how scared that he might have hurt Tony. That was not his secret to tell, he knew that it had been hard enough for Loki to show himself like that to Tony, he wouldn't want other people to know.

"So, yeah," he concluded his story, "I still don't really know what this is between us, because I'm not in love with him. But I feel at ease with him around, and I trust him. And as you have seen, it seems to be mutual. I don't think he would have fought on our side otherwise."

"That's true," Bruce admitted. He sighed, then looked at his watch. "About time I get back to my work, but you know where to find me if you need someone to talk, right?" At Tony's nod he added: "Just make sure that I won't run into Loki unexpectedly, not sure how the other guy would react to being caught by surprise. And, if that's okay, I'll ask JARVIS if you have company before I come up here."

"Sure, don't think it's a good idea anyway to have Loki around the tower on his own and risk him running into Clint or Natasha." Tony rubbed his hands over his face. "Speaking of which, I'll have to talk to them too, right?"

"Yeah, you should do that. Won't get easier when you put it off." Bruce got up and helped to clean the leftovers and dishes away. "But maybe talk to Steve first and have him there when you talk to the other two."

Tony slung an arm around his shoulder. "That's why you are my favourite, Bruce. You have the best ideas."

Bruce laughed, then shrugged Tony's arm off. "I sometimes don't know why I put up with you." He shook his head. "And now I'm really off, no more excuses for you to avoid the rest of the team."

"I take it back, you're mean!" Tony yelled at Bruce's retreating back, his only answer a soft chuckle before the elevator doors closed behind Bruce.

Tony puttered around in the kitchen some more, to stall and make a plan, but way too soon there wasn't anything else to do and he felt pathetic that he was trying to avoid his friends. Bruce was right, the sooner he got it over with, the better.

"JARVIS, where's Steve at the moment? And who is with him?"

"Captain Rogers is at the gym, alone, sir."

"Thanks, alert me if anyone else is heading to the gym, I want to talk to him alone if possible."

Tony forced himself to go to the gym right away, even if he'd rather avoid yet another talk about Loki. It really wouldn't get any better if he pushed it off. When he arrived there, Steve was busy beating up one of the special, reinforced heavy bags Tony had made for him - it seemed to hold up fine. Tony watched him for a moment from the door, then stepped closer so Steve could see him.

"Hey, Steve," Tony called out. "Got a moment? I'd like to talk to you." Steve glanced at him, punched the bag a few more times then turned around.

"I'm not sure if I want to talk to you at the moment." Steve looked hurt and angry at the same time.

"Look, at least let me explain, I don't expect you to behave as if nothing happened, but I don't want this to stand between us without an explanation." Tony hesitated when Steve didn't react at all, he ran a hand through his hair. "I owe you at least an apology."

Steve's gaze softened at that a bit. "I'll listen." He gestured at one of the benches near the wall. "Let's sit, this is awkward."

Tony was glad that Steve was willing to at least hear him out - he hadn't realized until now just how much it had hurt Steve that Tony had lied to him. He walked to the nearest bench, sat down and waited for Steve to do the same.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth, I just didn't know what to say." He ran his hand through his hair again. "To be honest, I still don't know how to explain everything. But I never wanted to lie to any of you, you have to believe me about that." He glanced at Steve who was removing the tape from his hands. "I might sometimes be full of bullshit, but you are my friends."

"Are we?" Steve interrupted. "Then why didn't you trust us? Not even one of us?"

"I don't know." Tony hoped that Steve could hear his sincerity. "Perhaps because I wanted to figure out for myself what was going on first? Because I could explain it even less back then? And what would you have said, if I had told you that I hadn't only been kidnapped by Loki, but that I enjoyed spending time with him and that we fucked?" Steve flinched at that and looked down. "Don't tell me you'd have just accepted it, because we both know that would be a lie."

"You're right, I would have assumed that Loki had mind controlled you into it," Steve admitted, without looking at Tony. "And I'm still not convinced that he hasn't."

"You'll have to take my word on that - and Loki's."

"And that is the problem. I'm not sure I still trust you completely after you lied to us - and I definitely don't trust Loki." Steve sighed and buried his hand in his face. "Why do YOU trust him? Perhaps you can convince me."

Tony took a deep breath and hoped he could find the right words. "It's hard to explain. Do me a favour and just listen until I'm done, okay?" He looked at Steve who just nodded. "Loki would have had every opportunity to hurt or even kill me that first time when I got dragged along by his spell. He didn't, he didn't even try. All he did was help me out of my disabled suit and tell me to let him rest until he could take me back." Tony paused for a moment, not sure how to continue. "We ended up having sex on his sofa, and I won't pretend that it was gentle in any way. But again, he didn't force me or try to, quite the opposite. He made sure that I wanted it, gave me more than one chance to stop him. I just didn't want to, it was good - even if I never considered him that way before." Steve had blushed slightly. "I know you don't want to hear about this, Steve. But it's important for why I trust him. Loki's almost as strong as Thor and incredibly fast, as you must have noticed. It would have been easy for him to hurt me, even to rape me if he wanted to. But he didn't, and that's when I began to trust him."

"I still don't get it." Steve looked up from his hands for a moment. "You were enemies."

"Being enemies doesn't mean that there's no sexual tension." Tony shrugged. "And actually, that's the important bit. We were enemies, and he could have done whatever he wanted to me - and he turned on the TV and told me to make myself comfortable. He just made sure that I didn't walk out the door so I wouldn't know where he lived. And I can perfectly understand why he wouldn't want me or anyone else to know about that." Tony looked at Steve and held his gaze. "I really don't know what else to say to convince you. But I really don't want to lose you or anyone else as a friend because of this." He took a deep breath. "Please, give him a chance to prove that he's changed. And don't judge me for things I have no control over, I didn't plan for any of this to happen."

Steve put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "I am your friend and that won't change anytime soon. But I need some time to digest all of this. You can't expect me to just accept it." He gently squeezed Tony's shoulder. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to protect you from your own stupid ideas?" Steve grinned, and Tony couldn't help but grin back.

"We're good then?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, we're good," Steve replied. "And I promise to think about what you told me about Loki. I will try to give him the benefit of doubt. After all nobody forced him to fight on our side yesterday. I doubt his former allies will like him very much at the moment, and he has to know that. He doesn't seem to be the kind of person to make such a decision lightly." Steve got up from the bench. "I need a shower now, I'll see you later Tony."

"See you, Cap." Tony smiled as he looked at the retreating form of his friend. That could have gone worse and he was glad that at least two of his friends were still talking to him.

Right now he didn't feel up to a confrontation with either Natasha or Clint; that would have to wait for a while longer. Instead he made his way to the workshop, determined to spend a few hours there to distract himself from the mess yesterday's revelation had created.


	7. Tension and Relief

Somehow Tony had gotten entranced by his work and spent most of the day in the workshop after he had talked to Steve. He was deep in thought and just scribbling down notes for a new polymer that might be elastic enough to be worn by Bruce when he hulked out - suddenly Clint was standing in front of him. Tony dropped his tablet, which Clint caught seemingly without effort.

"JARVIS, cut the music," Tony gasped, one hand clutching at his arc reactor. "And next time warn me when someone comes in."

"Agent Barton didn't use the door, sir. I was not aware that he intended to enter the workshop through the air vents." JARVIS replied drily.

"And you thought it was okay not to inform me at all that he was in the air vents in the first place? Thanks so much." Tony growled, snatching his tablet away from Clint. JARVIS did not reply.

"Any reason why you chose to almost scare me to death, Clint?"

"Let me think about it..." Clint put a finger to his lips. "Perhaps because you chose to sleep with the guy who mind controlled me into killing for him, and attacking my own people? And then expect us to just accept it? And be okay in his company?" A dangerous smile crept on Clint's face. "Of course I could have done a lot more from those vents than just scare you, would you prefer that?"

"Can we talk about this like grown ups?" Tony asked. "Or is this the moment where we start to throw insults and fight like kindergarteners?" What was wrong here, he was acting like the responsible adult for once and didn't respond on impulse? Tony mentally shook his head, he really didn't want this to escalate, after all his goal was to save his friendships, not destroy them completely.

Clint stared at him for a moment, then shrugged. "What is there to talk about? I still have an arrow with Loki's name on it. And if I meet him here at the tower, that's what will greet him. End of discussion."

"I'm not trying to tell you to forgive Loki or anything." Tony rubbed his hands over his face, tried to find the right words. "I will make sure you're not meeting him if you don't want to. But I thought we were friends, so we should talk."

"And that changes what? Don't think you'll kick him out just because I say so." Clint sounded angry and resigned at the same time. His eyes were intently studying the floor of Tony's workshop.

"No, I won't kick him out, because he doesn't live here. He's not here at the moment and he won't be anywhere in the tower apart from the penthouse unless it's necessary." Tony hesitated. "But he might fight on our side again, can you promise me not to attack him then? Can you give him at least the chance to prove that he is not our enemy anymore?" Tony put a hand on Clint's shoulder to make him look up. "I'm not asking you to put the past aside, and I'll let him fight his own fights with you. But I believe he has changed, and I think he deserves a chance to prove himself." He took a breath, hoped that this was the right thing to say. "You believed Natasha that she wanted to be on your side, can you accept that he might want the same?"

Clint shook Tony's hand off and looked away again. "That's not the same."

"I never said it was." Tony forced himself to keep his voice calm, to hide his exasperation. "I'm just asking you not to shoot him in the back while he is fighting on our side." A short pause. "And I hope that you still trust me enough to be my friend."

JARVIS interrupted them. "Sir, I believe Loki is calling, I once again can't identify the number." He still sounded annoyed at that.

"Tell him to call again later. Bad timing." Tony sighed when he saw Clint flinch at the mention of Loki's name.

"Wouldn't want to keep you from talking to your lover." Clint almost spat out the last word and turned towards the door. "We're done anyway."

"Clint, wait!" Tony moved to follow him.

"Agent Barton." JARVIS voice stopped Clint before he could open the door. "Loki asked to talk to you, I have locked the workshop door on his request so you will hear him out."

"Fuck you!" Clint yelled and threw himself at the door.

"JARVIS, unlock the door, that's not helping." Tony said at the same time.

"I believe he should listen to what I have to say, Tony." Loki's voice, calm, confident. "Agent Barton, I know you don't want to talk to me - and you don't have to. Just listen for a minute and think about what you hear."

"Tony, I swear to you, if you don't let me out RIGHT NOW, I'm going to kill you." Clint looked panicked.

"Loki, shut up for a moment." Tony growled, then slowly walked over to Clint. "Calm down, Clint. You know as well as I do that you can leave the way you came in if you want to, nobody can force you to stay. But perhaps you really should listen for a minute."

Clint took a deep breath and visibly forced himself to calm down. "Open the door and I'll listen. Try to lock me in and I'm gone through the vents."

"JARVIS, you heard him, unlock the door." Tony scowled.

"The doors are unlocked, sir. I have to apologize, Agent Barton, I should not have tried to force you to stay."

"Thank you, JARVIS." Clint glanced at the ceiling while talking to JARVIS. "Okay Loki, I'll listen as long as you make sense to me."

"That seems to be fair." Loki still sounded calm.

Tony steered Clint to the back of the workshop where he had a couch. "I hope you don't mind that I'll stay here as well."

"Since we were not done yet, stay." Clint glared at him, but decided to sit down.

"Everyone ready to listen?" Loki asked after a moment. When they confirmed, he continued: "Agent Barton, I truly regret how much damage I caused to you and other people when I first came to earth. At that time I was not entirely free in my choices either and had to do what I thought was necessary." He paused for a moment. "I wish I could have seen another way, without taking over your mind and using you for my goals. But I do not have the ability to change the past, no matter how much I wish to." He paused again. "And I will not ask you to forgive me, let alone to trust me - just please refrain from judging Tony by association. Do you think that is possible for you?"

Clint had been completely still and tense while Loki talked, eyes focussed on nothing in particular as far as Tony could tell. Now he looked at Tony, then down at his hands. "I can try, but I'm not sure if I can just forget that he kept something that big a secret from me - from all of us." He turned his attention back to Tony. "You knew that I wouldn't like the fact that you're seeing Loki, and you didn't tell me. You even let him into the tower without telling any of us. Did it never even occur to you that we would like to know? That we might not feel safe if we found out that you allowed one of our enemies access to our home without our knowledge? And even if it's you who owns this place, we all think of it as home."

Tony had to force himself not to look away, he hadn't really thought about it that way. "I'm sorry, Clint. I really don't know what else to say. And I had no idea how to tell you about it without you freaking out - just like you did yesterday." He swallowed around the lump in his throat. "Believe me, I have never done anything that would endanger you or any of the others - at least not intentionally. If Loki had left the penthouse and gone anywhere near you, JARVIS would have alerted you. And since he can teleport, what difference does it make if he is already at the penthouse? He can get in from wherever."

"Actually, that is not quite accurate," Loki interrupted him. "I can only teleport to places that I have seen before, if I want to avoid ending up stuck into a wall or some piece of furniture. Not that I could not get out of such a situation, but it is far too unpleasant to risk without a good reason."

"Then how did you end up in my bedroom, I'm pretty sure you haven't seen it before?" Tony wanted to know.

"I teleported on the roof, then onto your landing platform - and after I could see the room through the windows, it took no effort at all to get in." Loki informed them.

"So just to make sure I'm getting this," Clint interrupted, "as long as you haven't been in any other part of the tower, you wouldn't risk teleporting in except in emergency situations?"

"That's right, Agent Barton." Loki's voice was calm and reassuring. "And even if it was easy, I would not intrude. I do not wish to end up fighting you, or even worse, the Hulk. Therefore I think I will keep my distance unless you approach me."

Clint ran a hand through his hair. "Not sure if I should believe you, but I guess I can live with that for now." He stood up and turned back to Tony. "I have to sleep on this - probably more than one night. But if we have to fight together, I won't shoot you - or Loki - unless I he gives me a reason to. That's all I can promise for now."

"Thank you, Agent Barton, that is all I am asking for." Loki sounded relieved.

"Thanks, Clint." Tony gave him a slight smile. "Take your time, and I'm here to talk whenever you want to."

Clint walked out without another word and Tony slumped back into the sofa. "Well, that could have gone worse." He was too exhausted to get up again, so he called out to JARVIS: "Give me a holographic keyboard and screen here. I have completely neglected to prove that I can outsmart the God of Mischief."

Loki laughed at that. "And I was wondering when you would realize your lack of activity." He paused, then continued more seriously. "How did your day go?"

"Pretty much like you've just witnessed." Tony typed furiously, frowning at what he saw on his screen. As soon as he found a pattern, it disappeared again. "Haven't talked to Natasha yet, but at least nobody tried to kill me, threatened to kill you, or wanted to move out. I call that a win for now."

"They just need time, trust me." Loki answered. "And I am sure that the Black Widow will follow Agent Barton's lead in this, she seems to be very protective of him."

"True." Tony glared at his screen now, this didn't make sense at all. "Tell me your magic isn't adapting to what I'm doing here."

"So it is working, good." Another delighted laugh from Loki that made Tony smile despite himself. "But back to the more important things. As much as I enjoy taunting you with this little trick of mine, we should talk about what has changed for us since yesterday."

Tony sighed and momentarily stopped his attempts to hack through Loki's magic. "I don't think there have to be many changes." He resumed his typing and continued slowly. "I just don't have to lie any more about where I was, who I was with - and you won't have to hide again in case someone comes up to the penthouse while you are here." He took a deep breath. "As you have heard, the rest of the team isn't comfortable with you anywhere else at the tower yet. So it would be best if we limited your visits to my personal living area."

"What if I want to fight on your side again? Will they accept that?" Loki sounded slightly anxious.

"I think so..." Tony hesitated. "But I doubt any of them except for Thor will want to ask for your help, even if your magic could be really useful. So Thor or I will have to call you in and convince the rest of them that it's a good idea to do so."

"Will that create problems with your teammates?"

"None we can't handle." Tony sighed. "And it will give you a chance to prove that you are fighting with us and not against us now." The numbers and signs on his screen changed their pattern again, he frowned, then typed even more furiously. "They might need some proof of that before they can believe you." A wide smile spread on his face as he finally broke through the magic coding. "Got you." He yelled in triumph when his screen finally showed Loki's phone number and location.

"Took you long enough." Tony could hear Loki's answering grin. "I guess I will have to try harder next time."

"And I managed without any knowledge of magic." Tony still grinned.

"What if I wanted you to have success?" Loki teased.

"You wish, I'm just that good." It was nice to get away from serious discussions for a moment and just fool around. "I am a genius after all, didn't you know."

Loki just laughed.

"You don't believe me? Guess I'll have to prove it to you." A plan began to form in Tony's mind. Yes, he had coordinates for Loki's phone now that he had cracked the masking spell. His fingers flew over the keyboard again, he called up a map. "How did you spend your day?" He tried to distract Loki with mindless conversation. "Anything as exciting going on as in mine?" There it was, an address, and according to JARVIS the phone was located on the 8th floor of an apartment building.

"I fear a report of my day would bore you, I only rested to make sure my magic abilities are fully restored in case I need them. I did not leave my apartment at all."

"Too bad. Thought you could tell me something to distract me from the drama here." Tony had an address by now, the apartment in question was rented to a Luke Larson, he was pretty sure that he had found out where Loki lived. "That would have been welcome." Should he tell Loki or just show up for a surprise visit? Who was he kidding, a surprise visit it was - where would be the fun in telling him?

"I am sorry to disappoint, but I could visit to distract you." Loki offered.

"As tempting as that sounds, I was in the middle of some work when Barton dropped in and you called." Tony forced himself to hide his smile, he didn't want Loki to notice the lie. "I should finish it tonight, I am already behind on some projects that I wanted to be done with a while ago."

"Then I will not keep you from your work any longer," Loki replied. "From what you have told me, most of the delay is already my fault."

"Not really, it was my stupid brain that didn't stop thinking about you and kept me from focussing on anything else." Tony began to put his tools away, which would make him sound busy at work to Loki. "But yeah, it won't help if you keep distracting me."

"I will try not to do so." Loki sounded amused. "If you change your mind, you now know my phone number."

They chatted like this for a few more minutes, then said their goodbyes.

As soon as they had ended their phone call, Tony put everything he had been working on away and took a quick shower. He dressed in a pair of trousers he knew would show off his butt nicely and a casual button down shirt in dark red with the top two buttons undone - tonight he wanted to look good. He had to make sure the night would end with some spectacular sex, that would be about the only thing to keep his mind from going over the same questions over and over again. Would his friendship with the rest of his team ever be the same again? Could they still trust him? Were they all willing to forgive his deception? He ran a hand through his hair, then stopped in front of a mirror to style it in a gravity defying way. Yes, he desperately needed his mind to be distracted enough to shut up and he was sure that Loki might be more than willing to help with that. A last glance at the mirror, then Tony called Happy to drive him to Loki's address. Just to be sure he would find him at home he checked again, the phone was still located at the same place, so that was where he would go.

A short while later they arrived at a nice apartment building with a reception desk visible through big glass doors. Tony got out of the car and sent Happy home. He didn't intend to go back any time soon, no need to make Happy wait for him and lose sleep.

With confident steps, he walked up to the doors and inside, as if he belonged there, nodded to the guy at reception and just went on to the elevators. That worked almost every time, and sure enough, he wasn't stopped, the man didn't even look twice at him. He rode up to the 8th floor, two apartments with no names at the doors. That was a bit of a challenge, but not much of one. Tony took his phone out of his pocket and had JARVIS track the location of Loki's phone again and compare it to his own location. According to JARVIS the apartment to the right had to be Loki's. Tony pocketed his phone again, then knocked at the door.

Silence for a few moments, then Tony heard someone walk up to the door before a slightly puzzled-looking Loki opened the door.

"Tony? How did you..." his voice trailed off, then he grinned. "Of course, when you disabled my spell you could track my phone, I should have thought of that."

"I'm still surprised that you believed that I'd rather work than meet you after the day I had." Tony grinned back before he stepped through the door and looked around. "But yes, you should have thought of that."

The apartment looked pretty much the same it had last time, just with the blinds open to let the last rays of the setting sun in and the remains of dinner on the coffee table in front of the TV. Loki was dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and a dark green t-shirt. He had closed the door behind Tony and walked past him to the sofa.

"Sit and tell me what brings you here. You seem to have very specific plans tonight." Loki gave him a measuring look.

"You're right," Tony admitted when he sank down onto the same sofa he had occupied last time he was here. "I need to stop the thoughts whirling through my mind, and I think you might be able to help with that in a way we'll both enjoy." He smiled up at Loki who was still standing in front of the other sofa and suddenly knew exactly where he wanted this night to go.

"And how do you imagine me achieving this?" Loki had lifted a questioning eyebrow, but Tony could see that he was catching up on what Tony was after.

"In any way you want, as long as I don't have to take control or think." Tony lowered his head and glanced up from under his eyelashes in an attempt to make himself look more submissive than their current positions already did. "Just make me forget about everything but you and the here and now, please."

Loki stepped up to him until he stood between Tony's knees. He put a hand at the back of Tony's head and pulled at his hair until Tony looked up to him. "Are you certain you want to give me free reign? Your ideas of pleasure might be different from mine." His gaze was intent.

"I trust you, Loki." Tony held his gaze. "And we talked about it before, I'm pretty much up for everything and pain isn't necessarily a bad thing." He took a deep breath. "I rather like it sometimes, to be honest, and I prefer not to know what is going to happen or I will think about it too much."

Loki looked at him for a moment longer, then nodded. "Then I will not tell you, there are other ways to ensure that you are agreeing to whatever I am about to do to you." His grip on Tony's hair loosened and he took a step back. "Strip, then follow me to the bedroom," he ordered, giving Tony room to stand up.

Tony got to his feet, then hesitated. He was suddenly doubting his own decision. It had been way too long since he had trusted anyone enough to give up control completely, and he was becoming nervous. Berating himself not to be stupid, he quickly took off his shirt, toed out of his shoes and after a quick glance to Loki, who was patiently watching him, removed his jeans and underwear as well.

Loki didn't say anything, just turned around and led the way to his bedroom. Tony took another deep breath, then followed him. They stopped in front of a huge bed with a wrought iron headboard and frame, and Loki turned around to look at him. Tony swallowed and tried to hide that he was almost shaking.

"Are you alright?" Loki had obviously noticed his hesitation and sounded concerned.

"Yeah, it's just been a while," Tony admitted.

Loki stepped closer and put an arm around his waist, the other around his shoulder, hand buried in Tony's hair. He pulled Tony close and held him there: warm, comforting, safe. "We can just go to bed if you want to." His words were soft, barely audible, breath warm against Tony's ear.

Tony relaxed a bit and put his arms around Loki's waist, returning the hug. "No, I really want this. I need it today." He hesitated for a moment. "I'm just not sure if I can make myself submit without a fight, no matter how much I want to." He took a deep breath. "I never told you what happened to me in Afghanistan, but since then I haven't really been able to trust anyone enough for this and my first reaction is always to fight."

Loki forced Tony's head up so their eyes could meet. "Then I need a way for you to tell me when you really want me to stop, I have no desire to do anything that is against your will. But I can give you the freedom to push back as much as you need to."

"Jarvis," Tony answered after thinking for a moment, "that's my safeword."

"This means if you say this you want me to stop?" Loki frowned at the obviously unfamiliar expression.

"Yes, that's what a safeword is used for." Tony confirmed.

"Good, I was not familiar with the expression." Loki let go of Tony and took a step back. "Get on the bed, on your back." His voice was firm and commanding now.

"Make me." Tony's reply was automatic, his usual reaction to someone who tried to order him around.

Loki raised an eyebrow, then suddenly Tony found himself lifted by a hand around his neck and one around his waist. He gasped in surprise, Loki's unexpected movement and casual display of strength sent a wave of fear and lust through his body. Before he could react he was thrown onto the bed, and Loki knelt above him, still pinning him down with a hand on his neck. He took a shaky breath, but Loki's hand didn't restrict his airway at all.

"Will you do as I say now or do I have to tie you up?"

Tony took Loki's words for the challenge they were, and he did his best to try and throw him off. Loki just smirked, not in the least impressed by Tony's efforts, and didn't move an inch despite Tony's fingernails leaving deep scratches on his arms.

"If you want to be difficult, I will have to help you to stay still for me."

Loki's free hand moved through the air and he hissed a few words in a language Tony didn't understand. Suddenly bands of what felt like leather wrapped around his wrists, and his arms were dragged up over his head. Tony stared at his own hands, but there was nothing to see. Yet he could feel the restraints pressing against his skin - soft, warm and at the same time strong enough to hold him. When the pull on his hands stopped and they came to a rest he tried to move them down again, but they seemed to be securely fastened. Tony felt around and yes, there was what felt like a wide strip of leather going from his wrists to the headboard, but still there was nothing visible.

"I did mention before that my magic can be very useful." Loki sat up and smirked, still straddling Tony's waist. "Will you behave now or do I have to tie up your legs as well?"

Tony just snorted at the thought of behaving and tried once again to dislocate Loki, holding onto the magic bindings on his wrist for leverage. Loki shook his head in disappointment but let him try for a while, not budging the slightest bit. Then he cast another spell and Tony's ankles were encircled by magic as well, and Tony found himself tied spread eagled to the bed, not able to move any more.

"Fuck, using magic's not fair, you bastard!" He yelled at Loki, whose smile turned predatory.

"Where would be the fun in being fair?" Loki arched one eyebrow. "But if you are unable to keep your mouth in check, I might be tempted to gag you. Consider yourself warned."

Tony gulped in a breath and slowly let it out. No, he couldn't let that happen, that would leave him without the ability to safeword, he didn't think he could handle that. "That won't be necessary." Tony forced himself to relax, he knew he wasn't going anywhere unless Loki let him go. And considering his body's reactions, this was exactly what he needed tonight - now that he had stopped his futile struggles he noticed that he was almost painfully aroused.

"Good, then be quiet and let me play with you. I intend to find each and every spot tonight that will make you gasp and moan and maybe even beg." Loki's gaze was hungry as it travelled over Tony's body and Tony shivered in anticipation.

True to his word, Loki began to kiss, bite, lick, stroke and pinch every inch of Tony's body, lingering whenever Tony visibly reacted. He seemed to be intent on finding out what would cause the best and loudest reactions. The touches didn't follow any pattern, were entirely unpredictable; Tony never knew where the next one would be and whether it would be pleasure or pain.

Tony melted under Loki's attention, slowly falling into the right headspace to just let go and give himself over to whatever Loki wanted to do to him. The randomness of the touches helped him to just let go, his mind was useless to predict them so after a while he stopped to think about it and just enjoyed the sensations. True to his words Loki didn't leave out any part of Tony's body, Tony's whole skin tingled with the memory of touches.

The line between pleasure and pain began to blur, Tony gasped and writhed under Loki's ministrations, especially when his hands suddenly seemed to turn to ice. They were so cold, they almost burned, it felt so good and was almost too much whenever Loki touched an especially sensitive place - and since he had found them all during his earlier exploration he spent a lot of time running his fingers over them in long, spiraling motions. Hot lips and tongue were an almost intolerable contrast to the cold of Loki's fingers trailing over his body.

"Loki, please..." Tony gasped out, though he didn't really know if he was asking for more or for it to stop.

"I am not done with you yet, Tony." Lips moved against Tony's ear, hot breath tickling his skin. "If I untie you now, will you do as I say and kneel on the bed, head down?"

"Yes, Loki." There was no doubt left, Tony wanted whatever Loki had planned for him, he didn't even care what it was.

"Good, then turn around." Loki moved away and got up, the magic bindings holding Tony in place vanished.

Tony carefully moved his arms and legs, flexing muscles that protested the movement after being immobile for so long. He glanced at Loki, but had a difficult time making his eyes focus, so he gave it up after a moment. Without a second thought he rolled onto his stomach, pulled his knees under himself to raise his hips, and rested his head on his folded arms. His eyes closed again, he didn't need to see what Loki would do next, he just wanted to feel it. There was no room for doubt left, no hesitation, no thoughts about anything but the here and now. Tony's body felt heavy, relaxed and alive.

"You are beautiful like this." Loki's voice was a mix of lust and admiration and went straight to Tony's cock. And yet, Tony didn't care about his arousal, was in no hurry to do anything about it. Tony trusted Loki to take care of it, to take care of him. "Do you know what this is?"

Loki's words pulled him out of the dreamlike state he was in, anchored him. Several soft, slightly heavy strands of something - suede - were dragged down his back, over the curve of his ass, along his thighs and back up again. His thoughts were sluggish, but after a long moment he could identify the sensations: a flogger. Tony shuddered in anticipation, then mumbled something that could have been a yes and nodded. The stroking continued for a moment, then the flogger didn't touch him at all any more. The impact was surprisingly loud in the otherwise silent room, he felt a dull pain across his right shoulder blade, then warmth spreading through his muscles. Tony arched his back into the next stroke, more pain and warmth on his left side this time. He moaned softly.

The blows fell in a steady, almost hypnotic rhythm, not hard enough to really hurt, but spreading warmth all over his back and relaxing his muscles even further. Tony didn't know and didn't care for how long this went on, he was only dimly aware of the sounds that escaped his lips and his own throbbing erection. The only thing that was important was the increasing pain from the continued flogging and the pleasure he took from it. After a while Loki moved on to hitting his ass and thighs with the same slow, measured blows. They hurt more here, but still felt so good, yet were not quite enough.

"Loki... please..." he managed to gasp out, not able to find words.

"What do you need?" Loki's voice was soft, and a cool hand travelled over Tony's heated skin.

Tony arched into the touch and struggled for words. "Need... more, please," he finally managed.

"Something like this?" Loki trailed the flogger over his skin again, but the strands were thinner, harsher now, not suede but leather.

Tony shivered as he imagined what this would feel like and nodded. "Yes..."

Again Loki stopped touching him and for one endless moment nothing happened, the only sound audible was Tony's own, laboured breath. Then pain, sharper now, spreading heat even deeper through the muscles of his back. Once more Tony's world narrowed down to the sounds of the flogger hitting his back, the increasing pain that felt so good, his gasps that turned to sobs at some point when his back was on fire and painful blow after blow began to rain down on his ass and thighs.

An indeterminable amount of time later it stopped, and Loki was there, skin on skin - when had he undressed? Loki trailed kisses and soft, cool touches over Tony's back and murmured something in a calming voice that Tony couldn't quite understand but didn't need to. Slowly Tony's breathing returned to normal and the sobbing stopped, but Loki's caresses went on, they got more insistent and Tony became aware again of his own erection. Loki's answering one rubbed against the hot, throbbing curve of Tony's ass and Tony pushed back into it.

"I want to have you." Loki's voice was slightly breathless against Tony's ear, the words were followed by a series of sharp bites along Tony's neck.

Tony's gasp turned into a low moan as the by now familiar magic began to fill him, stretch him - accompanied by Loki's hands running hungrily, demandingly, over his body, Loki's lips and teeth alternatingly hurting and soothing and Loki's voice whispering encouragingly against his skin. It was impossible to hold still, to not push back into the magic that felt so good where it was invading his body. When it vanished and Loki held him still with strong hands on his hips, Tony let out a whine.

"Shh, be patient." Loki sounded as impatient as Tony felt, but Tony immediately relaxed again.

He was rewarded by Loki pushing into him in one long, slow motion, until his hips were flush with Tony's ass. They both moaned and held still for a moment, then Loki began to thrust - hard, fast, fingers digging into Tony's hips deep enough to leave bruises. Tony sank back into the bliss of just feeling, it was rough, almost painful and oh so good. Time and everything but their bodies moving in perfect synchronicity lost meaning again, the only thing that existed was Tony's body still throbbing deliciously with pain, Loki's cock thrusting into him and pushing Tony closer and closer to release, Loki's hands holding him, anchoring him to the here and now.

"Come for me, Tony." Loki's words were followed by a few even harder and faster thrusts and were all that Tony needed to push him over the edge. Pleasure surged through his body, made him feel as if he was flying, he barely registered that Loki came almost immediately after him and slumped down over his body.

When Tony's mind drifted back to awareness, he was curled up on his right side, with Loki pressed against his back, a strong arm holding him close against Loki's chest. Tony snuggled in and turned his head to catch Loki's lips in a soft, slow kiss.

"Thank you," Tony whispered after the kiss had ended.

"Believe me, it was my pleasure." Loki smiled against Tony's neck and placed a soft kiss there. "We should sleep now."

There was no magic involved, and yet Tony's eyes fell shut at Loki's words and he gave in to the pleasantly exhausted state of his body. Still held tightly, securely, by Loki he drifted off to sleep, for once undisturbed by any thoughts or worries.


	8. One more hurdle

The next morning, Tony woke when Loki quietly slipped out of bed. He watched him walk across the room: gloriously naked and graceful even right after waking up. Tony slowly stretched and took inventory of his sore muscles and bruises, reveling in the lingering pain. He smiled when Loki came back to the bedroom and slid under the covers again.

"I tried not to wake you, it is still early." Loki apologized and pulled Tony into an embrace, legs tangled together.

"Don't worry about it, I rarely sleep more than a few hours at a time." Tony snuggled closer and captured Loki's lips in a soft kiss.

"How are you feeling?" Loki wanted to know, trailing his fingers lightly over Tony's back. "I can make your bruises heal faster, if you want me to."

"Don't you dare, I like that I can still feel what you've done to me last night. It's going to be a nice reminder." Tony grinned. "And it isn't bad enough to keep me from working, won't even hinder me if I have to get into the suit and fight."

"Good, I like to see the marks I left on your body." Loki smiled back and kissed Tony again, following a trail of bite marks with his fingers.

Just then Tony's phone rang from the living room. Tony was tempted to ignore it, but it was Steve's ringtone and it could be important. With a sigh he gently pushed Loki off and went to find his phone.

"Hey Steve, what's wrong?"

"Sorry for waking you, Tony, but you were not at the tower..." Tony could almost hear Steve blushing over the phone, JARVIS must have told him where Tony currently was.

"Don't worry about it," Tony interrupted, "just tell me why you're calling."

"Director Fury wants to see you, he's just arrived at the Tower." Steve sighed. "I think someone told him about you and Loki."

"Great." Tony rolled his eyes. "Just what I needed at stupid o'clock today, a meeting with a grumpy Nick Fury."

"Sorry, Tony..."

"Not your fault, Steve. I'll be back soon." He ended the phone call and turned around to Loki who stood in the doorframe, watching Tony.

"Get dressed, I can teleport you home. That will be faster than calling your driver." Loki said while walking back to the bedroom. "And I should probably get dressed as well."

They didn't speak anymore, just put on their clothes, then Loki teleported them into Tony's living room - where they ended up right in front of a startled Steve.

"Goddammit!" Steve yelled and took a step back.

"I apologize, Captain Rogers, I did not intend to startle you." Loki let go of Tony and put some more distance between himself and Steve. "I was not aware you would be here."

"It's fine, I just didn't expect you to suddenly appear." Steve turned to Tony. "I've put on a pot of coffee, thought you might need some before meeting with the Director. He's downstairs, in the common area."

"Thanks, coffee is exactly what I need right now." Tony walked towards the kitchen, then turned back around. "Loki, want some too? And what about you, Steve?"

"I probably should leave again," Loki answered.

"I think you should stay. Can't hurt to show Fury that I'm not ashamed of having you around and that I'm not willing to hide my relationship with you - even if he doesn't like it."

"Tony, I'm not sure if that's a good idea." Steve looked worried from one to the other.

"Oh, I actually think it's a great idea. Fury's trying to piss me off by invading my private space at this time of the day - can't let him get away with that." He turned his back to them and entered the kitchen. "So, coffee for three it is then, don't argue with the genius here."

Loki couldn't help but laugh at that.

Tony came back with three coffee mugs and settled on the sofa, next to Loki who draped an arm around his shoulder.

"JARVIS, let Director Fury and the rest of the team know that they are welcome to join Loki and me here. When they insist on dragging me out of bed at this time of the day, they can make the effort to come to me if they have something to say."

Steve rolled his eyes, but sat down on the second sofa and took a sip of his coffee. Tony was pretty sure he was fighting not to smile.

"They are on their way, sir," Jarvis announced a few moments later.

Tony grinned widely when the elevator opened and Fury stormed out with a thunderous expression on his face - closely followed by the rest of the Avengers.

"So it's true, you've switched sides and are fraternizing with the enemy!" Fury didn't quite yell, but he looked as if he was going to strangle Tony any second. Tony's smug grin probably didn't help.

"Well, I could do that of course, and believe me, you and SHIELD wouldn't have fun with that at all." Tony grinned up at Fury, who was towering over him. He wasn't the least bit impressed. "But I'd rather keep fighting with my friends against the bad guys, if that's alright with you." His voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Tony!" Steve tried to interrupt him, but Tony stopped him with a raised hand.

"As I see it," Tony continued, "you can go now and decide to leave Loki and me alone." He paused, the smirk replaced by a grim expression. "Or you can declare me your enemy and deal with the consequences. I can live with either decision, so what is it going to be?" He raised an eyebrow in expectation.

"You expect me to just accept that you are in cahoots with a known enemy of SHIELD? You can't be serious."

"Try me." Tony leaned further into Loki's side and calmly took a sip of his coffee.

"Director Fury," Steve interjected, "Loki has fought on our side before and hasn't given any indication since then that he wants to fight against us." He took a deep breath. "I might not trust him completely, but I trust Tony enough to not tolerate if Loki changes sides again."

Bruce stepped up at that. "Steve is right, we might need some time to accept Loki anywhere near us, but we trust Tony's judgement. How did you hear about this, anyway?"

"I called him," Clint admitted with a sheepish expression. "But I didn't say anything about you changing sides, Tony, you have to believe me."

Tony sighed. "It's okay, Clint, I didn't think you had. And I think I get why you thought he had to know." He ran a hand through his hair, then turned back to Fury, expression hardening. "I'm still waiting for your decision, Director."

He held Fury's gaze, but noticed that Thor had stepped behind them and rested a hand on Loki's shoulder. Even Clint and Natasha had moved away from Fury and stood close to Steve and Bruce now.

"I will keep an eye on you, Stark!" Fury growled, then glared at each of them in turn. "If I see even the slightest hint that you or Loki are a danger to us, I will take action against you." Without another word he turned around and stormed off.

When the elevator door had closed behind Fury, Tony couldn't help but giggle. "He's keeping an eye on us, more than one wouldn't be possible anyway." For some reason this all was hilarious to him, he couldn't stop laughing - and everyone joined in.

When they had calmed down, everyone left and went about their day as usual; Loki was the last one to go. Tony decided that he wouldn't be able to get more sleep anyway and buried himself in his work again.

And just like that, things slowly went back to normal for Tony and the Avengers in the weeks after the confrontation with Fury. Fury's appearance had helped to clear things up between them much faster than any of them would have thought possible.

Tony worked, watched films and had dinner with his friends, fought evil at their side - and sometimes, when it was a small mission that only required Tony and Thor, they took Loki with them.

Slowly the team got used to see Loki around, and he joined them more often than not in a fight. Sometimes the Hulk had to be stopped from smashing Loki into the nearest building - but he regularly tried to punch Thor as well, and Loki learned quickly to get out of the way when the Hulk came too close.

Even Clint began to trust Loki in battle - which didn't mean that he liked to see him around the Tower. The rest of the team more or less got used to walking into Tony's penthouse or workshop and finding Loki there as well, everything was about as normal as life for the Avengers ever got.

The biggest change really was in Tony's personal life. Somehow he managed to talk to Loki or spend time with him almost daily, despite his busy life and more than erratic schedule. They never really talked about what it was between them, but over time they spent more nights together than not and both couldn't imagine to be without the other any more. Was it love? Tony didn't know and didn't care, he just knew that they both were happy for now, and that was more than enough for him.

Sometimes he thought back about how this had all begun and was amazed at how well things had turned out, considering that everything had started with one of his really bad ideas.


End file.
